Stop #5 Zwicker & Company

Right from the time of the arrival of our founding fathers, Lunenburg’s waterfront has been a place of thriving family businesses. Within 20 years of settlement the Rudolfs were fishing and shipping goods. The Andersons were ship builders, salt fish merchants and exporters. And the Eisenhauers made their place in West Indies trade.

Founded in 1789, Zwicker and Company might be considered the Granddaddy of Lunenburg’s waterfront businesses, run continuously for nearly 200 years, with generation after generation of Zwicker men at the helm.  As a pioneer of the Transatlantic Shipping trades, Zwicker’s ships first carried lumber to England and brought back dry goods, such as tea and hardware. They then set their sights on the Windward Isles of the West Indies where lumber, staves, and, of course, salt fish, were exchanged for molasses, tobacco, sugar, and rum. At one point the Zwicker fleet included 12 brigs and a number of other ships. As the Banks Fishery took form, Zwicker was right there adding Salt-Bank schooners to their fleet – their records hold up The Union as the first vessel to be outfitted for the Banks fishery – and they earned a place as the oldest exporter of fish in the New World.  Advancements in the fishery brought new wealth and more changes to the company. By the late 1920s motorization had come to the Banker fleet. Then came innovation, with the addition of indoor drying systems speeding up and improving the dried salt-cod product.  While the Zwicker property once covered a much larger area, the current structures are relatively modern, with different sections of the warehouse dating from the late 1800s and other buildings from the 1920s and 30s. And yes, famed Grand Banks fishing schooner Bluenose was partially owned by and also outfitted through Zwicker and Company.

The property, now known as Zwicker Wharf, is a fine example of the joint effort of the local Lunenburg Waterfront Association and their partner Waterfront Development Corporation, who, through the government of Nova Scotia, operate Lunenburg’s waterfront properties. Recently refurbished wharves and building offer visiting pleasure craft and wandering tourists access to the harbourside.