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Deep in the woods of Western Nova Scotia, a French immigrant family built something almost impossible: a fully electrified town in the unsettled wilderness, decades ahead of its time. They called it La Nouvelle France, but the history calls it "The Electric City."
It boasted hydroelectric streetlights, a homemade locomotive, a sawmill, a railroad, and a lavish family home carved out of the raw forest. For a few short years, it thrived. Today, almost nothing remains. If you didn't know exactly where to look, you could walk right through it and never know a town was ever here.
This is the story of the Stehelin family and the rise and quiet fall of New France, Nova Scotia's Electric City.
With the historical guidance of Hal Theriault, Stacy Doucette, and the Electric City / La Nouvelle France Society.
https://nselectriccity.ca/
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
02:21 - The Electric City Interpretive Center
07:12 - Jean-Jacques and the Scouting of Acadia
11:15 - The Remains of the Townsite
12:41 - Building the Sawmill & the Hydroelectric Dam
17:02 - A Community Grows
22:58 - Building the Big House
27:39 - The Electrical System
28:43 - The Rest of the Stehelins Arrive
32:27 - Lumber from Town to Dock
35:50 - The Wooden Railway
38:24 - Emile-Jean and Anne's House
40:51 - The Well of Temptation
44:31 - Thérèse and the Tea House
48:14 - The Chapel of Our Lady of the Forest
49:39 - Expanding the Railway
53:27 - Germaine's Wedding & the Shipwreck
56:20 - The Fire of 1907
59:11 - War, Loss & the Forest Reclaims
1:01:28 - The Ghost of a Ghost Town
1:08:20 - The Legacy Continues
ABOUT THIS PLACE
New France (La Nouvelle France), nicknamed "Electric City," was an experimental lumber settlement founded by the Stehelin family in the 1890s near Weymouth, Nova Scotia. It was among the earliest electrified communities in the region, powered by its own water turbines long before many larger cities had electric light. The town faded in the early 20th century and has since been almost entirely reclaimed by the forest.
🏛️ SUPPORT THE SOCIETY
The Electric City / La Nouvelle France Society is working to preserve this story, restore the site, and host guided tours. If you have artifacts from the site, they're asking the public to consider donating them - no questions asked. Visit the New France Interpretive Centre in Weymouth, Nova Scotia to learn more.
A Documentary by Thomas Lynskey
© 2026 HFX Studios
#GhostTown #NovaScotia #ElectricCity #Abandoned #History #Acadia #CanadianHistory
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