HALIFAX – The future of a Kings County museum is up in the air.
The owners of the Blue Beach Fossil Museum have put the property up for sale, citing financial hardships.
The museum contains approximately 90,000 pounds of rock that show wave ripples, animal tracks and plant life from about 350 million years ago.
Sonja Wood started the museum 13 years ago and though she said it is her passion, she adds it is no longer financial feasible for her and partner Chris Mansky to keep it running.
“We do not make a wage here. It’s been very difficult for Chris and I to keep this project afloat,” she said.
“This is a decision we did not want to have to make.”
“What we have to do is shut down our public venue for which we do not receive salaries. Simply put we cannot give away all the rest of our time hosting a public venue for these fossils,” Mansky said.
Wood said the museum sees 10,000 visitors every year, but admission is by donation and as a result, the pair only pull in about $10,000 annually.
The pair did not have an estimate on the cost to run the museum annually.
“We can only take it so far. We are spent,” Wood said.
Wood and Mansky said there is a wealth of knowledge inside the museum.
“Blue Beach is significant mostly for the fact that it shows the oldest information and it’s the only place in the world that shows evidence of the first creatures that moved out of the water and walked on land,” Wood said.
“Here at Blue Beach, we tell stories very few people understand and they are some of the most important moments for the vertebrates.”
Wood and Mansky said they have reached out several times to the province for help.
But the department of community, culture and heritage told Global News it has not received a recent request from the museum.
In a statement, however, it pledges to continue protecting the fossils.
“The province will work with the Blue Beach Fossil Museum Society, and any future owner of the museum, to ensure the fossils on display are protected for all Nova Scotians,” said minister Tony Ince.
Wood said the fossils are integral to Kings County and hopes someone steps in to help save the historic finds.
“The fossils need to be here on site, on location. This is the only place in the world for these fossils to be: right here at Blue Beach,” she said.
There is community support for the museum: a petition is circulating on change.org that calls on the province to save the facility — so far, it has garnered more than 550 signatures.
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