diff --git a/channeldb/db.go b/channeldb/db.go
index 92a49c2f8..1079cfd4c 100644
--- a/channeldb/db.go
+++ b/channeldb/db.go
@@ -329,6 +329,7 @@ var dbTopLevelBuckets = [][]byte{
 	metaBucket,
 	closeSummaryBucket,
 	outpointBucket,
+	historicalChannelBucket,
 }
 
 // Wipe completely deletes all saved state within all used buckets within the
diff --git a/channeldb/db_test.go b/channeldb/db_test.go
index c0b9bd79c..2773437f1 100644
--- a/channeldb/db_test.go
+++ b/channeldb/db_test.go
@@ -717,10 +717,11 @@ func TestFetchHistoricalChannel(t *testing.T) {
 	// Create a an open channel in the database.
 	channel := createTestChannel(t, cdb, openChannelOption())
 
-	// First, try to lookup a channel when the bucket does not
-	// exist.
+	// First, try to lookup a channel when nothing is in the bucket. As the
+	// bucket is auto-created (on start up), we'll get a channel not found
+	// error.
 	_, err = cdb.FetchHistoricalChannel(&channel.FundingOutpoint)
-	if err != ErrNoHistoricalBucket {
+	if err != ErrChannelNotFound {
 		t.Fatalf("expected no bucket, got: %v", err)
 	}
 
diff --git a/contractcourt/channel_arbitrator.go b/contractcourt/channel_arbitrator.go
index cc4c83ba6..4dadfa950 100644
--- a/contractcourt/channel_arbitrator.go
+++ b/contractcourt/channel_arbitrator.go
@@ -618,6 +618,8 @@ func (c *ChannelArbitrator) relaunchResolvers(commitSet *CommitSet,
 	// If we don't find this channel, then it may be the case that it
 	// was closed before we started to retain the final state
 	// information for open channels.
+	case err == channeldb.ErrNoHistoricalBucket:
+		fallthrough
 	case err == channeldb.ErrChannelNotFound:
 		log.Warnf("ChannelArbitrator(%v): unable to fetch historical "+
 			"state", c.cfg.ChanPoint)
@@ -1947,6 +1949,8 @@ func (c *ChannelArbitrator) prepContractResolutions(
 	// If we don't find this channel, then it may be the case that it
 	// was closed before we started to retain the final state
 	// information for open channels.
+	case err == channeldb.ErrNoHistoricalBucket:
+		fallthrough
 	case err == channeldb.ErrChannelNotFound:
 		log.Warnf("ChannelArbitrator(%v): unable to fetch historical "+
 			"state", c.cfg.ChanPoint)
diff --git a/docs/release-notes/release-notes-0.14.2.md b/docs/release-notes/release-notes-0.14.2.md
index 2eba7fd6b..db9fd70a3 100644
--- a/docs/release-notes/release-notes-0.14.2.md
+++ b/docs/release-notes/release-notes-0.14.2.md
@@ -69,7 +69,9 @@ connection from the watch-only node.
 
 * [Fix duplicate db connection close](https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lnd/pull/6140)
 
-* [Fix a memory leak introduced by the new ping-header p2p enhancement](https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lnd/pull/6144]
+* [Fix a memory leak introduced by the new ping-header p2p enhancement](https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lnd/pull/6144)
+
+* [Fix an issue that would prevent very old nodes from starting up due to lack of a historical channel bucket](https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lnd/pull/6159)
 
 
 ## RPC Server