Description of Historic Place

The Picnic Shelter Pavilion at Fort Beauséjour National Historic Site of Canada, is a simple, octagonal, wood structure with a hipped roof. It is designed in a traditional style and built with natural building materials. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The Picnic Shelter Pavilion is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental value.

Historical Value
The Picnic Shelter Pavilion, brought to the fort in the 1920s, is associated with the National Parks Branch’s efforts to evoke a traditional image loosely tied to historical antecedents appropriate to the specific site.

Architectural Value
The Picnic Shelter Pavilion is a good example of a park support facility designed in a simple traditional style with cottage like character, as evidenced in its use of natural simple materials and details. It is a good functional design with quality craftsmanship.

Environmental Value
The Picnic Shelter Pavilion maintains an unchanged historical relationship to its site and is compatible with the picturesque character of the fort in its coastal setting. The Pavilion is familiar as part of the complex of buildings used frequently by visitors to the National Historic Site of Canada.

Sources: Picnic Shelters (Lodge and Pavilion), Fort Beauséjour National Historic Site, New Brunswick, Federal Heritage Building Review Office, Notes, 96-073; Picnic Shelter, Pavilion, Fort Beauséjour – Fort Cumberland National Historic Site of Canada, New Brunswick, Heritage Character Statement, 96-073.

Character-Defining Elements

The following character-defining elements of the Picnic Shelter Pavilion should be respected.

Its traditional style with cottage-like character and quality craftsmanship, for example:
-the simple, geometric massing that consists of a one-storey, octagonal, hipped roof structure;
-the horizontal emphasis of the symmetrical facades as illustrated by the horizontally-lain wood siding and the ribbons of windows;
-the simple materials and details such as, the wide window and door trim, and wood fascia and soffit; and,
-the large interior volume of space.

The manner in which the building maintains an unchanged relationship to its site, its compatibility with the picturesque character of the fort and its setting, and also its familiarity as a landmark, as evidenced by:
-its ongoing relationship to its simple turf-grassed site nestled into the rolling terrain along the coast;
-its physical compatibility with other support facilities which together create a picturesque group adjaced to the ruins in the national historic site of Canada; and
-the building’s use as a support facility frequented by visitors to the national historic site of Canada.