Shelburne Founders' Days is an annual celebration of the rich history, heritage, culture and people who have made the Shelburne area one of the most interesting places in Canada.  For several days each summer, the historic waterfront comes alive with fun, food, history, music and games.

Years before visits by the Spanish, French and Portuguese fishermen, the native Mi'kmaq traversed the Roseway River and used the surrounding land for summer encampments.  In 1783, more than 10,000 settlers loyal to the British crown arrived in Shelburne (then Port Roseway) after fleeing the disastrous consequences of the American Revolutionary War.

These Loyalists, including Black Loyalists, Black Pioneers, indentured blacks and some slaves, helped to lay out and build the town and made the settlement one of the largest communities in North America.

The Black Loyalists were allotted land in what became Birchtown, on the nortwest arm of Shelburne Harbour, forming the first largest freed Black settlement in North America.

Some Loyalists, including soldiers from dozens of disbanded British regiments, moved on to Halifax, Annapolis Royal, New Brunswick and Upper Canada, but many remained here and their decendents live here to this day.

The area was also settled by Scottish and Irish immigrants.  In June, 1818, Welsh settlers arrived from Carmarthen and Cardigan in Wales and formed the first Welsh settlement in Canada, in a community on the Roseway River called New Cambria, later named Welshtown.

During different eras, the Town has alternately prospered and struggled, once being a centre of shipbuilding and other commerce in the region and serving as the home for military and other government institutions.  Founders' Days is a yearly reminder that we are richer by celebrating the courage, fortitude, ambition, dignity and accomplishments of our forefathers.