Little Lorraine

About

Little Lorraine is a small community located on the east coast of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is known to have had several different names in the past such as Little Loran, Lorembec, Cap-de-Lorembec, Petit Laurenbec and between 1750-51 Petit Lorembec was in use. In a 1756 census, there were 22 families living in Little Lorraine – all in the fishery business. It was founded in 1714 and has a population of approximately 62 people. It is 8.9 km from the small community of Louisbourg. The small village is known for its rough seas and heavy fog. The Irish immigrant sailing ship Astraea ran aground at night May 8, 1834, in Lorraine Head. Commanded and owned by Captain William Ridley, on a voyage from Limerick, Ireland to Quebec it quickly broke up, killing 251 people. The shores were scattered with nude corpses. Some were buried in an unmarked unknown mass burial near the wreck site. There were only three survivors — a surgeon, a carpenter and a seaman. The ship was British in nationality, built in 1812. There lies a plaque on the ocean floor in memory of the people who died aboard the ship. A monument stands in place on Little Lorraine road on a grassy hill between two brooks....

The town was impacted by the involvement of several of its residents in a cocaine smuggling ring in the 1980s and early 1990s. This was the subject of "Lighthouse in Little Lorraine", a 2022 single by Nova Scotia singer-songwriter Adam Baldwin, and Little Lorraine, a 2025 film by director Andy Hines.