Each pewter ornament (2 3/8" dia.) is dated and identified on the reverse and comes with a card giving a history of the landmark.
1876 was the year Yarmouth had the most shipping per capita of any town in the world. It was in this era when the firm of H. & N. B. Lewis prospered as ship owners and chandlers from their business on the wharf below Argyle Street. They also had a business at the intersection of Argyle and Main Streets, known as Moody’s Corner, and it was here in the centre of Argyle Street that the Lewis Fountain was installed.
Designed by J.L. Mott of New York it featured eight hooded dog’s heads, large bowls for horses and cattle, smaller bowls (now gone) for cats and dogs, a bronze engraved plaque and a large decorative bronze vase on top. The inscription reads: “Presented to the Town of Yarmouth by Nathan B. Lewis and wife, May1st, 1895”. His wife was Adeline Cann.
During World War II the fountain was removed presumably to be used for scrap metal but due to the determined efforts of Rachel (Benham) Lewis, wife of Nathan Lewis’s nephew, H.K. Lewis, it was eventually returned. It has been moved to the parking lot on the northeast corner of the street for its own protection. It stands as a reminder of that prosperous era, a “Yarmouth, N.S. Landmark”.