He was a leader in the town, called a magistrate and commissioned as lieutenant colonel of the Black Militia of the greater Shelburne district by Governor John Parr.

Stephen Blucke, born about 1752,[2] was a literate mulatto, the son of a black mother and a white father from Barbados.

[2][3] Living in the Birchtown, Nova Scotia household in 1784 were Stephen, Margaret, Isabel, Richard Wilkinson, and William Monday.

[2] During the Revolutionary War, the British realized that they were outnumbered and promised freedom to any slaves of rebel colonists if they would serve behind their lines.

[11] A group of white Loyalists decided to flee the United States and settle at Port Roseway (now Shelburne, Nova Scotia).

[4]: 15 One of about 3,000 free or emancipated Black Loyalists eligible to go to Nova Scotia, he came to The Maritimes in British Canada[1][12] in August 1783 aboard the L'Abondance.

On September 3, 1783, they began to establish themselves in what became Birchtown, Nova Scotia, named after Samuel Birch who signed the certificates for the Black Loyalists.

There was a four-year delay in actually getting their land, residents received up to 40 acres, while Blucke had a 200-acre lot, likely because of his role coordinating activities with white and black communities.

[3] Although the soil in and around Birchtown was of poor quality for large-scale farming, Blucke had a substantial garden at his house.

He developed a friendship with Stephen Skinner, a local merchant, who went through Blucke to hire blacks,[3] most of whom did not receive their promised land and had to work as laborers or domestics.

[3] Birchtown held together for eight years, despite the famine, a violent race riot, widespread poverty, and the realisation that, despite being free, African-Nova Scotians were in a desperate fight for material and political equality.

[4]: 19 Sometimes referred to as the "Birch Magistrate", he helped people petition the authorities, witnessed the sale of property, and enforced a level of justice.

[3] Governor John Parr of Nova Scotia commissioned him as lieutenant-colonel of the Black Militia in the Shelburne District in September 1784.

[5] Under his leadership, he ran the Black Militia, which performed public works, like building a road to Annapolis.

The largest group of artifacts represented kitchen items used to prepare, store, or consume food and drinks.

There were also tobacco pipe, clothing, arms, personal goods, and items for activities from the Blucke household.