‘The Little Town With a Lot to Offer’ The rural Town of Berwick welcomes you into the ‘core’ of Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley. Our community is located between the slopes of two glacial ridges, locally known as the North and South Mountains. Historically, Berwick has been a pivot in the province’s apple industry. Indeed, the town is known as Nova Scotia’s Apple Capital. Orchards, but also farms, vineyards, and forests envelope the town, making for an idyllic rural setting. Rural, however, does not mean sleepy.

Berwick citizens are engaged, active in local charities, sports teams, community groups and churches. We also boast a dynamic community of innovative entrepreneurs, artists, and athletes.

Berwick’s official slogan is the “Apple Capital of Nova Scotia”, honouring the importance of the apple industry as a major economic force in developing the town. Following the collapse of the traditional European market for apples during and after World War II, area farmers began diversifying their operations throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Despite the decline of the apple industry since the 1950s, there are still some apple orchards to be found in the surrounding agricultural districts. A large apple sculpture is found in the centre of town to commemorate the importance of this historic industry.

Until recently a number of regionally successful small manufacturers related to agriculture prospered in Berwick

Berwick’s late 19th and early 20th century prosperity driven by the apple industry left the town with many fine homes and classic wooden Victorian storefronts. However most of the historic commercial buildings on Berwick’s main thoroughfare of Commercial Street were demolished in the 1980s and 1990s by commercial expansion of Berwick businesses seeking to compete with such retail centres as New Minas by building large parking lots. Berwick’s town centre resembles a typical North American retail strip with low strip malls and expanses of asphalt.

The town still retains many fine Victorian and Edwardian houses on tree-lined streets. However some of these homes now face demolition. The Bethune House, an Arts and Crafts style home of a noted early 20th century regional photographer was demolished in 2008 to create a parking lot. In 2009 two of Berwick’s most historic homes, the Patterson and Keith houses, were proposed for demolition to provide a driveway for a duplex housing development. The proposed demolitions led to a protest by citizens concerned about the economic and cultural loss of attractive heritage properties and the lack of any heritage planning in Berwick, which is one of the only municipalities in Nova Scotia which lacks a policy to develop or preserve heritage buildings. Both buildings have since been demolished.