We’ve returned to Nova Scotia – traveling this time by ferry - and drove up to Cape Breton to stay in Baddeck, the home of Alexander Graham Bell. We are using this as our home base for three days since it is central in Cape Breton. Spent a few hours at the Bell Museum. Neither of us realized what a “renaissance man” he was. Take a curious, creative mind, and add a happy marriage and money, and you have Mr. Bell – inventions in air travel, hydroplanes, hearing, and communication fill room after room. His records were meticulous and his to-scale models are intact and fascinating.
Our next day took us to Louisburg, a reconstruction of an early 18th Century French Fort. Actors in character roam the grounds and guided tours provide important details. Having been to so many forts in Nfld and the other side of Nova Scotia, we are beginning to see the whole picture. It is the best way to learn history!
We then drove to Glace Bay and had a two-hour tour at the Miner’s Museum. We spent an hour in a mine shaft that was five feet high (height of the shaft is determined by height of the coal seam). I found out the reason for us wearing hard hats more than once! We were provided with canes to support ourselves as we struggled our way through the wet, dark mine with our guide, a retired mine worker, shouting the details to us. I realized why he talked so loud when he demonstrated the noise of the electric drill they would have in the background most of the time – you couldn’t work there long before your hearing would be affected. He was very funny and delighted in giving us the details of the difficult job of a miner. But it was also clear that he loved working in the mine because of the companionship of fellow workers who would risk their lives for you.
Our next day took us to Louisburg, a reconstruction of an early 18th Century French Fort. Actors in character roam the grounds and guided tours provide important details. Having been to so many forts in Nfld and the other side of Nova Scotia, we are beginning to see the whole picture. It is the best way to learn history!
We then drove to Glace Bay and had a two-hour tour at the Miner’s Museum. We spent an hour in a mine shaft that was five feet high (height of the shaft is determined by height of the coal seam). I found out the reason for us wearing hard hats more than once! We were provided with canes to support ourselves as we struggled our way through the wet, dark mine with our guide, a retired mine worker, shouting the details to us. I realized why he talked so loud when he demonstrated the noise of the electric drill they would have in the background most of the time – you couldn’t work there long before your hearing would be affected. He was very funny and delighted in giving us the details of the difficult job of a miner. But it was also clear that he loved working in the mine because of the companionship of fellow workers who would risk their lives for you.
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