The French colony of Port Royal, centered on the habitation, was the first successful attempt by Europeans to establish a permanent settlement in what is today known as Canada.

Although the European settlement of Port Royal persevered, with some interruptions, the habitation's role as the focus of the colony ended with its destruction in 1613.

This interest had been increasing since the publication of Quietly My Captain Waits, an historical novel by the Canadian novelist Evelyn Eaton set in Port-Royal in the early 17th century.

In the early 1900s, chiefly under the leadership of Harriette Taber Richardson, a native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and summer resident of the nearby town of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotian preservationists and historians began lobbying the Government of Canada to build a replica of the Habitation which stood from 1605 until its destruction in 1613.

Costumed interpreters provide demonstrations of such historic early 17th-century activities as farming, building, cooking, fur trading and Mi'kmaq life.