The Lunenburg Academy in Nova Scotia, which is a former schoolhouse and now used as a community cultural center, is up for sale due to the town’s inability to afford the maintenance costs for the national historic site. The building, which is a three-story Victorian-style structure that has been called the “castle on the hill,” dates back to 1895. Since 2012, the town has paid around $2 million for capital and operating costs, and last year it offered the Lunenburg Academy Foundation the opportunity to purchase the building. The foundation was surprised by the offer and has since hired a consultant to assess the feasibility of the purchase. The foundation is expected to receive a report by the end of May, which will offer recommendations on the best ownership model for the academy. The news of the sale came to light in a report by a local news outlet, the Lunenburg Barnacle, which published a letter from the town to Parks Canada indicating the town’s desire to sell the academy and its surrounding land. The foundation recently raised $1.5 million through a capital funding campaign, but it noted a financial shortfall of just over $713,000 over the past decade. Lunenburg Mayor Matt Risser said the operating and capital costs of the building would equate to more than $100 a year per household in the town of 2,400 people, which is an excessive burden for such a small town. If the foundation is unable to take over the building, Risser said the town may have to consider raising taxes in order to keep it.