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SHELBURNE , 70km southwest of Liverpool, took heart when it was chosen as the backdrop for the 1994 cinematic version of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic The Scarlet Letter , but the film was such a dodo that it did the town no favours. Indeed, despite the well-kept shingle and clapboard houses that string down from Water Street, the main drag, to Dock Street and the waterfront, Shelburne manages a vaguely disconsolate air. It does, however, boast the third largest harbour in the world, after Halifax and Sydney - easily big enough, so the plan went, to accommodate the British fleet if Hitler managed to launch a successful invasion. The British would have been welcome: Shelburne has been intensely anglophile ever since thousands of Loyalists fled here in the 1780s - including two hundred free blacks, ancestors of the town's present black community. Shelburne is home to the Nova Scotia Museum Complex , centred on Dock Street, which has three distinct elements. The Shelburne County Museum (mid-May to mid-Oct daily 9.30am-5.30pm; mid-Oct to mid-May Tues-Sat 2-5pm; $2) provides a broad overview of the town's history and its maritime heritage; the adjacent Ross-Thomson House (June to mid-Oct daily 9.30am-5.30pm; $2) is a Loyalist merchant's store and home, pleasingly restored to its appearance circa 1800; and the nearby Dory Shop (June-Sept daily 9.30am-5.30pm; $2) comprises a waterfront boat factory/museum. Rarely more than 5m long and built to ride the heaviest of swells, the flat-bottomed dory was an integral part of the fishing fleet during the days of sail. Each schooner carried about six of them: manned by a crew of two, they were launched from the deck when the fishing began, fanning out to maximize the catch. The Dory Shop produces three a year, but only for private use for hand-fishing - the few dories used today in the offshore fishery are steel-hulled. Allow about an hour to visit the three sites (combined tickets $4) - and while you're here take a peek at the handful of heavyweight shingle buildings left over from the film set, just off Dock Street. There's no special reason to stay in Shelburne, but the tourist office (summer daily 9am-7pm), at the north end of Dock Street, does operate a free room-reservation service. The most agreeable hotel in town is the Cooper's Inn , which occupies a lavishly refurbished old shingle house at 36 Dock St (tel 875-4656 or 1-800/688-2011; $80-100; April-Oct). Wooded, lakeside camping is available 5km west round the bay at the Islands Provincial Park (tel 875-4304; $14; mid-May to Aug). There's inexpensive and unpretentious food at Claudia's Diner , 149 Water St; wholesome meals at Charlotte Lane Cafe , down an alley - Charlotte Lane - off Water Street; and first-rate cuisine at the Cooper's Inn restaurant - try the steaks.
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