Storyline: Atlantic Canada, Take 2
June 18 – June 24
Temporarily bidding adieu to the wilderness to touch on some history. And perhaps bidding adieu to fresh seafood, too. Not so temporarily. Descending the stunning Cabot Trail, we ended in Bras D’Or Lakes Campground.
Wide-open, with no mosquitoes! Don’t ask me to do it again though, the Cabot Trail that is. Even a Saskatchewan guy we met in the campground who’s been all over North America with his small trailer said he hated it. I can visualize his car entering a sharp downhill turn while his trailer is still negotiating the previous one in the opposite direction. We’d made it downhill in good weather. Next day was going to drown us again, so we asked the campground manager for 3 nights.
It was still empty and we could select our site. The rainy day was for relaxation, laundry, listening to the rain battering Doranya’s roof and sipping wine. There was another dry day after which was planned to visit the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site: the reason we were near Baddeck.
It is a fascinating site that aggregates many artifacts, photos, even full-scale replicas of Bell’s inventions, stories of his life and humanitarian efforts. I am a bit hesitant to write about it since everyone knows who is the inventor of the telephone. But his inventions go way beyond the telephone. Most of the artifacts were donated by his family.
Last year I mentioned in Paris to Copenhagen via Vienna in a day post that “the world first long-distance call” was in 1876, between Brantford and Paris, Ontario.
Eight miles or 13 km distance. His family had moved to a property near Brantford, Ontario and the 23-year-old Bell had established his laboratory in the carriage house of the family property.
Ten years later in 1886, A.G. Bell purchased a property near Baddeck, NS very close to the current historical site.
Among his many inventions and activities is the fastest at the time hydrofoil, contributed to the aviation technology, talked about using alternatives to fossil fuel, took over a small journal and converted it to the world-renowned magazine – National Geographic – and was one of the founders of Science magazine.
After the walk though the A. G. Bell site where one can easily spend hours, we were up for another seafood experience. There was a restaurant on the wharf and we managed to find a table outside.
It was Monday, June 20th and things were getting busy. School groups in the museum, restaurants were open and filling up fast, and even our empty campground was full when we returned in the evening. Did I say Nova Scotia oysters are really good?
Our trend with seafood continued, and if it wasn’t for a buck a shuck later in Sydney this would have been the last one. As a matter of fact, it was the last Nova Scotian since later they’d be the PEI Malpeques and Daisy Bay’s. Plus fresh seared scallops and seafood chowder to die for. I think we’ve exhausted our dining out budget for the next 2 years.
But just thinking about the fact that we were not sure if Alex would ever be able to swallow even a sip of water again only 7 short months ago. Isn’t life amazing!
A stroll down the streets after lunch to the “Bean There Café” with an espresso machine. Aside from the espressos and deserts they ground a bag of coffee beans for my van supply.
It’s been hard to find espresso ground coffee – they are all ground for drip-style coffee makers. So, I am good for Newfoundland.
We left for the Highland Village Museum near Iona next morning. It is just across the Bras d’or lake from Baddeck, both in the heart of Cape Breton. In 1802, Gaelic speaking immigrants from the Isle of Barra settled in this location.
This is the only North American living history museum for Gaelic culture and folklore. It illustrates the identity of the Nova Scotia Gaels.
We really enjoyed our stroll through the recreated settlement, the passionate reenactment in the Hebridean-style blackhouse. We visited most of the 11 historic buildings. Some were being facelifted and some were temporarily repurposed.
Most of these buildings were original, moved from the nearby locations. A visit to this site is highly recommended and is well worth the reasonable admission price.
As with the Bell historic site, we could easily have spent many more hours there, learning the history of the area from period-dressed and knowledgeable staff.
We ended up at the Sydney harbour for the night. Parked next to the pub on the water, had a nice late lunch there and walked on the boardwalk and around the city for a while. An Irish pub was advertising a buck a shuck Malpeque oysters so we had to try it as dinner.
Sydney is not very pretty on the waterfront even by the big fiddle and along the boardwalk. Lots of construction. Perhaps it’ll be better after construction is finished.
It’s obvious that the city is trying its best to improve its appearance for visitors. We spent our night in that parking lot by the pub. It’s a municipal parking and although busy during the day, empties at night.
Doranya was facing the water and there were a few young locals in their cars smocking or so, but they all left later.
It was a quiet night, however around 6 in the morning we were awaken by a big road grader leveling the gravelled lot.
He didn’t bother us, but we were already awake and decided to move to the shopping plaza, have breakfast and buy some groceries.
Our next stop – Louisbourg. We stopped by the railway museum on the way. There wasn’t much of a museum.
Four rusting cars in the two tracks. An information centre in the former very small train station. It was a foggy morning which made an interesting drive to the lighthouse.
Could not see the stronghold from there because of the fog. Again, we were lucky with the national historic site. It was officially opening the following day. When open, one had to park far from it and being bussed to the site.
That would be being crowded with other people, not very comfortable with Alex’s situation and many without masks. We were told to drive to gate 2, which is in the premises of the stronghold. There was a designated RV parking area there.
Fog was lifting enough to see it all even the surroundings. To beat the crowds, we first entered their restaurant. Food was supposed to be as close as possible to that served in an 18th century French fortress. Or rather, the serving was.
They gave as a big cotton towel to tide around our necks and a spoon to eat with. The rest was more or less modern-day wine and beer glasses and food. In many restaurants and pubs of Nova Scotia they serve Ontario wines.
Perhaps it’s cheaper for them than the local. But there was always local beer. Tons of breweries around. I had a pan-seared haddock and Alex had a turkey pie. Both were served with ‘seasonal’ vegetables – carrots, turnips, green beans, and peas.
We then walked around the site, there were some reenactments but not as elaborated as in the Gaelic settlement. Things were still ramping up for the season, and Alex remembers that there was much more interpretation later in the season when he previously visited.
So what is the Fortress of Louisbourg and why is it one of Canada’s national historic sites? It was a French settlement that was originally created as a fishing port in 1713. As its economic value grew, due to its dominance of the fisheries in the area, it became a heavily fortified town. Taken by British settlers in 1745, it was returned to France in 1748 as part of an exchange for some border towns in what is now Belgium. The British recaptured the town in 1758 after a six-week siege then systematically destroyed the fortifications.
Since the 1960s, the fortress town has been partially reconstructed and displays extensive historical artifacts and interpretive information. In fact, it is the largest reconstruction project in North America.
The fog was almost gone for now. We drove to our campground, called the campground manager (he apparently doesn’t stay in his office or perhaps not yet). Although we had a prebooked site, he offered us a better one. “It’s going to rain and you don’t want to be on the grass”. It was already drizzling.
The second point of historic interest, located in the fortress national historic site area, is Wolfe’s Landing which commemorates the point at which General James Wolfe’s forces landed in 1758 to lay final siege on the fortress. The site was not yet open for the season and since we’d done all we could do here we decided to cut short by one day our stay at Riverdale RV Park. No problem. We were refunded for the unused night.
This concluded our history and nature touring around Cape Breton. See you in Newfoundland.
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