Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Even though Sydney is in Nova Scotia, it really identifies itself more with Cape Breton Island, as do most of the people who on this island do.  They are also very proud of their Celtic heritage, as can be seen immediately when you arrive at the port and are greeted by this 55 foot tall fiddle.

During the early 1800’s, the sounds of Celtic fiddling, piping, singing, dancing and storytelling echoed across the Atlantic to Cape Breton.  Because of its relative isolation, the Scottish Gaels in Cape Breton have kept the Celtic traditions alive until this day. 

There is even a college devoted to the study and preservation of the Gaelic language and Celtic arts and culture.  Founded in 1938, St. Ann’s Gaelic College began in a log cabin overlooking St. Ann’s Bay.  The only institution of its kind in North America, It has gained an international reputation. Students of all ages come from around the world to study here.

 

Since I have already travelled around the famous Cabot Trail and explored the well-known Fortress of Louisbourg and other highlights of Cape Breton when I lived in New York, I chose to go to Baddeck, the home of Alexander Graham Bell, to visit the museum there.

 

I never knew how wide a range of interests and how wide a body of inventive work Bell had, much of it undertaken at Baddeck.  By the time he arrived in Baddeck in his late 20‘s, the success of the telephone had freed him from the need to earn a living giving him tine and resources to pursue these interests. 

 

We all know that he had been a teacher of the deaf. His wife, Mabel Bell, had been one of his students.  Scarlet fever at the age of five had left her deaf.  As a wedding present, he gave her all of the stock in what is now ATT. Even though she was wealthy when he met her, this made her even wealthier.

So they were young and rich when they fell in love with Baddeck after a visit here, and they built a huge mansion on the shores of the Bay. It is no longer inhabited and only Bell’s descendants live on this peninsula which is closed to the public.

This statue along the waterfront portrays them looking across the Bay to their home which they called Beinn Bhreagh. 

 

This is the view from their perspective.

Bell’s imagination and wide-ranging curiosity led him into scientific experiments in such areas of sound transmission, medicine, aeronautics, marine engineering and space-frame construction. 

Aeronautical work was a large part of his life at Beinn Bhreagh.  His early kite-flying  experiments of massive kites made up of thousands of tetrahedral cells that could support the weight of a man led to the success of the Silver Dart, an aeroplane that was one of the of the first controlled flight in 1907.

 

His wife played a vital role in her husband’s career, providing him with both financial and moral support to pursue his diverse interests.  She was also an artist.  An example of her art is this owl she gave him symbolizing his “night owl” work habits shown in a replica of one of the rooms he used as an office.

 

 

He also experimented with hydrofoil craft and built the HD-4 which set a world speed record in 1919.   He offered it to the military, but they said they didn’t have any use for it. He did much more that I didn’t realize until visiting this museum.

We made our way back to Sydney  crossing this bridge which spans St. Ann’s Bay where ocean going vessels can come in from the Atlantic and sail to the huge lake of Bras d’Ore.  They pick up gypsum and other natural resources to ship them world-wide.

 

The Bras d’Ores Lakes are a unique combination of ocean and lake features which dominate the center of Cape Breton. From above, the Bras d’Ores Lakes look like a large expanse of smooth water, occasionally broken by islands and sandbars.

 

However, below the smooth surface, the Lakes floor has hills and valleys much like the surrounding country side.
 

As we drove along, we were lucky to see fall foliage in all its glory.

And noted the pine cones high up on the evergreen trees which the guide told us often is a sign of a cold winter coming.

When we got back to the port terminal, clusters of people were busy with their electronic devices because free internet was available.  No wonder, connection on-board (which is slow and inconsistent (latent) can cost as much as 75 cents a minute if you use the “pay as you go plan.”)