Tucked away in the forests behind Weymouth, Nova Scotia, lies the site of what was one of Canada’s earliest and most remarkable technologically advanced and multicultural communities for its time.
In 1892, the wealthy Stehelin family departed France with their eleven children. Their home region, Alsace, had been annexed by Germany after the Franco-Prussian War, so they sought refuge in Acadian Nova Scotia, in a village they called Nouvelle France (New France). There, they established a successful lumber operation on the Silver River. A sawmill in the river powered not only the family’s business but also generated electricity for the entire settlement. This was remarkable at a time when few rural communities had any electrical power. Running water was equally rare, yet many houses in Nouvelle France had it. The majority of rural Maritime homes did not get running water until after the Second World War, over 50 years after the establishment of New France.
Locals soon referred to this well-lit, progressive haven as “The Electric City,” a name that stuck after seeing the village aglow at night. The Stehelins believed in building a peaceful, welcoming place, and people of diverse backgrounds—Acadians, Black Loyalists, Mi’kmaq, French immigrants—lived here together without regard for race, religion, or class. According to Paul Stehelin’s account, the family even trusted Acadian workers (many of whom were illiterate) to design and build a railway with wooden rails. They called their homemade locomotive “Mouche a feu,” or firefly.
But war eventually spelled the end of The Electric City. When World War I erupted, France conscripted nearly all its male citizens between 20 and 45, without any exemption. That included several of the Stehelin sons and many other village residents.
Meanwhile, timber’s importance declined in a modernizing world. Short-handed and less profitable, the settlement eventually faded away, and the forest that had once fuelled its dreams slowly reclaimed the land.
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