John and Betty’s Travels Part 7

Sunday August 13th was spent walking about Baddeck’s waterfront. And who did we come across sitting at one of the benches? It was no other than Mabel and Alexander Graham Bell!!!!!!  The miracles of time travel…..lol. Not wanting to miss a photo opportunity, we stood behind them and had our photo taken. 

Mabel and Alexander Graham Bell

For a Sunday it was relatively quiet and we enjoyed our leisurely walk. We stopped in at a gift shop that had various crafts and artwork from local artists. We browsed for a while and then continued on with our stroll. At the main pier, we saw the tour boat tied up. According to the billboard, their tours for 2 pm and 5 pm were sold out. We noticed that there was a Lion’s Club pontoon boat leaving the pier and heading to Kidson Island. The island is quite close and the boat ride would probably take 10 minutes at the most. The beach on the island which looked quite popular and there was a lighthouse on the tip of the island.

Kinston Island (beach is further to the right)

A boat at anchor

Our next yacht……lol

After the main pier, we went up to Main Street and went to browse in the old Baddeck Post Office that had been converted into a gift and home decor shop. After browsing about, Betty made a couple of purchases and we were off to the ice cream shop. The ice cream was tasty but not as tasty as Cow’s Creamery ice cream. Then it was time to pick up some groceries and head back to the campsite for cocktail hours…..

On Monday August 14th, we travelled to Glace Bay to visit the Miner’s Museum and the Marconi Museum. At the Marconi Museum, we watched a video on Marconi’s efforts to build his site at Table Head. It was at this site that Marconi proved it was possible to send messages across the Atlantic using electromagnetic waves. One of the interesting items on display was a copy of the hand written note from Alexander Graham Bell offering up his summer residence of Beinn Bhreagh at Baddeck for Marconi’s use while Marconi was searching Cape Breton for a suitable location to build his transmitter station and radio towers. As mentioned in previous articles, Google sure comes in handy when you want to get more details.

Model of the transmitter station, 200′ towers and the antenna in the centre.

Some of the concrete foundation remnants at Table Head

The Miner’s Museum was really interesting. There were the artifacts, displays etc that one would find in a museum. Outside there was a replicated Company Store, commonly referred to as the “Pluck me” store. The miners had little choice but to shop at the Company Store as it was the only place nearby to acquire your food stuffs, tobacco and alcohol. Naturally, the Company set the prices as there was no other competition. The majority of the time these goods were bought on credit. The miners were paid weekly and paid by the ton of coal produced. Most times, their pay enevelops did not contain any money but a note of how much they still owed the store. Also on site was a house that the miners rented from the Company. This particular displayed house was similar to a duplex. One side was set-up as life would be for the miners in the mid 1800s and the other half was for the turn of the century. Each house had 3 bedrooms: one for the parents and a room for the girls and one for the boys. If there were 12 kids in the family, it would be a bit of tight quarters…..lol

Company Store

Company Store contents

More contents

Company Store Ledger

Replica Company housing for miners.

The best part of the museum was the mine tour. We were in a group of 21. All of the guides are retired coal miners. Our guide Eric, had us don ponchos and hard hats. He went around and found out where everyone was from and gladly took your picture with your camera if you so desired. Nice  touch. Eric explained the mine and the safety rules that we need to follow, basically keep our hard hats on and stay within the group. We went into the mine and were able to walk erect for about 5 minutes. After that, the mine ceiling got a little lower and lower as we went along. I’m sure that at times the distance from the floor to the ceiling was only 48″. As the ceiling of the mine is covered by metal sheets and I-beams to prevent the ceiling from collapsing, the hard hats protected our noggins as there were a few times that our heads banged the ceiling. Throughout the tour, Eric would explain the various activities and concerns of the miners. Miners were scared of three things in a mine: fire, tunnel collapse and methane gas. The tour lasted about 30 minutes and was absolutely enjoyable. This is definitely worth it. However if you are claustrophobic, stay on the surface….lol and as mentioned previously, just Google for more info.

Entrance to the mine for our tour.

Tuesday August 15th saw us hit the road and travel the Cabot Trail. The weather was perfect: sunny, blue sky, a few clouds and a high of 23° C. Wow, what a journey; with the spectacular views, quaint little villages such as Ingonish, Cape North, Pleasant Bay and Cheticamp, artisan’s shops, road construction, bumpy roads, smooth roads, twisty curvy roads, hairpin turns, steep inclines, from being at 9 metres above sea level to 440 metres above sea level, and even a piper, we had it all….

On Wednesday August 16th, Betty and I met up with Carole and Tyler, our friends from Brighton Ontario for lunch in Inverness. They are vacationing in Cape Breton as well but are staying at a B & B in Cheticamp. It just so happened that the portion of their vacation that was in Cape Breton coincided with ours for a few days so we thought that a lunch date was in order. We actually passed them on the Cabot Trail yesterday while in one of the many construction zones…. They were doing the trail in a clockwise direction while we did ours counterclockwise…… After lunch, we said our goodbyes and proceeded south. Inverness has a boardwalk along a very long sandy beach with sand dunes that Betty and I  took some time to stroll along. We should have brought our bathing suits and towels….. We had a leisurely trip back to the campsite. In the past few days, we sure have added to our truck’s odometer…..lol…..