Peggy’s Cove in a better light

 

Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 – Pier 21 was opened as an immigration centre in 1928 to handle the large number of predominantly European immigrants coming to Canada.  We were expecting so much more from this museum, but it fell dismally short of telling the immigration story in Canada. Pier 21 was closed in 1971; a lifespan of only 43 years so there wasn’t a lot of history to work with.  Couple this with the fact that many of the displays and interactive kiosks were not functioning only added to our frustration.  The museum is located next door to the cruise ship dock and seems to depend heavily on this traffic from the ships.

We had planned to spend the full day here but we were out within an hour.  The weather was clear so we decided to try Peggy’s Cove one more time.  The sun was just starting to burn off the fog when we arrived and we were able to get some half decent pictures without getting soaking wet in the process.  It truly is the quaint fishing village that it is portrayed as. Now if they could only do something with all these damn tourists!!

 

Maritime Museum–Titanic and the Halifax Explosion

Saturday, July 27 – Day 39

We make a point of getting an early start today as we have found that getting a parking spot in the harbour area of Halifax is almost impossible.  We were able to get a spot right next door to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.  The museum does an exceptionally good job of telling the stories of the numerous shipwrecks along the coast of  Nova Scotia, which is often called the “Graveyard of the Atlantic”.

It has been 101 years since the sinking of the Titanic on April 5, 1912 and since the movie came out a few years ago, it has created a new generation of interest.  The museum tells the story of the recovery operation and how Halifax served as the base of operations in the recovery effort.  Among the artifacts are this pair of shoes recovered from a young boy who was buried in the Fairview Cemetery in Halifax.  For many years his identity was unknown as was indicated on the gravestone.  In recent years however he has been identified as Sidney Goodwin. He was the youngest of eight children in a family, all of whom perished that night. 

Many of the markers in the Titanic area of the Fairview Cemetery have no names, just the number that was assigned when the body was recovered. As each body was recovered all the possessions were put into a small canvas bag with a corresponding number and a description of the person was entered in a journal.  Some of the bodies were identified through this system but a great number never were…their last time on earth as a number.

This system was used 5 years later during the Halifax explosion of 1917.  Briefly; a French munitions ship was struck by another ship in the harbour.  The impact created sparks that ignited benzene being carried on the deck; it also disabled the ship which drifted towards a pier.  The fire attracted many people to watch at the harbour front.  When the fire reached the cargo of TNT, the ship was ripped apart and everything within a square kilometer was leveled by the blast.  Five other ships in the harbour were totally destroyed; a piece of shrapnel is still to this day embedded in the wall of St. Paul’s Church, almost two miles away. The shockwave from the explosion shattered windows into the faces and eyes of many people who were watching from their homes.  A tsunami was created in the harbour that wiped out an entire Mikmaq Indian village. The blast was the largest man made explosion before the detonation of the nuclear bomb.

Quite obviously, Halifax is no stranger to disasters.

Halifax–The Citadel

Wednesday, July 24 – Day 36

The Halifax Citadel sits on a hill (which has been cut down by 40’ from its original height) dominating the harbour area of Halifax.  When you look over the walls you can easily see why this site was chosen as a defensive position for the protection of the harbour.   This fort and a number of smaller installations around the harbour made this a formidable obstacle for any potential invaders.  The fort was rebuilt several times between the 1760’s and 1800’s, before the current design was adopted in about 1820.  The present Citadel was handed over to the Parks Canada in the 1950’s and they have done an incredible job of reconstructing the fort using much of the existing stone and using techniques utilized during its construction. 

Costumed interpreters are everywhere and at first we thought that they were actual military training units: we found out much later that this was not the case. Mostly students trying to earn enough money to go back to school.

I couldn’t resist putting in this shot.  The guard was supposed to have eyes forward, but I saw him checking out a young girl as she passed by.

 

The web site for the Halifax Citadel National Historic site is:http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/ns/halifax/index.aspx

We had purchased Canada Parks Discovery Passes when we went to the Carlton Martello Tower back in Saint John, NB when we first started touring Atlantic Canada.  We thought that they were quite pricey at the time at almost $70 each; but they have definitely paid for themselves with all the the National Historic Sites and National Parks we have visited on this trip.  The passes are good for a year so we can still do some touring till the end of July 2014.

Halifax–Peggy’s Cove

Tuesday, July 23 – Day 35

We left Cape Breton, under beautiful sun shine skies this morning, but by the time we got to Halifax the clouds and drizzle/rain had started…another experience getting setup in the rain.  We chose a camp ground about 20 minutes north of Halifax called the Woodhaven RV Park in Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia.  The Wi-Fi here seems to be fairly reliable. 

We had the best part of the afternoon remaining so we set out for Peggy’s Cove, which was only 43 km away.  Now, all the pictures that I’ve seen of Peggy’s cove show a bright sunny sky and a calm cove which clearly shows the reflections of the boats at dock in the harbour area.  Well here is the proof that it is not ALWAYS so picture perfect. We could just barely see the lighthousee through the driving rain, from the Sou’wester Restaurant.  Not quite a gale, but it almost turned my umbrella inside out a couple of times.

On our way we passed the memorial to Swissair Flight 111, which crashed near Peggy’s Cove in 1998, killing all 229 people aboard.  The cloud and rain just added to the somberness of the memorial.  The inscription on the left side of the picture reads, “In memory of the 229 men, women and children aboard Swissair Flight 111 who perished off these shores September 2, 1998.  They have been joined to the sea and the sky.  May they rest in peace.”  The face of the right side monument forms a sight line to the crash site and it reads, “In grateful recognition of all those who worked tirelessly to provide assistance in the recovery operations and comfort to the families and their friends during a time of distress.”  The people of Peggy’s Cove had opened up their homes to the families of the Swissair victims during the recovery operations.  It makes my complaints about the weather seem kind of trivial, now.

Cape Breton Miners Museum

Monday, July 22 – Day 34

We decided that we would stay and extra day in Cape Breton to take in the Miners Museum in Glace Bay.  We couldn’t get an extra day in the Cabot Trail Campground but we were fortunate enough to get a site in Adventures East just down the road.  After we had setup there, we were on the road to Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.  The town of Glace Bay was put on the map by Rita MacNeil who came from this area.  What captured our interest in the museum was when she appeared with a group of miners, “Men of the Deeps” who performed with their hardhats and miners lanterns.  It was really quite moving.  (Link to You Tube – A tribute to Rita taken from an appearance with the Men of the Deeps.)

Nova Scotia has a long history of coal mining.  It was first discovered by sailors from Fortress Louisbourg who dug it out of exposed seams along the shore near Glace Bay. 

There is an introductory film produced by the National Film Board quite a few years ago (I’d guess late 60’s) about coal mining conditions in Nova Scotia.  Even for a conservative, pro-business person like myself, I’ve got to concede that conditions for the miners were pretty poor.  Actually they were appalling.  Young boys of nine years were routinely employed to work in the mines.   Men were paid for how much coal they were able to deliver to the surface not how much time they spent in the mine nor how much rock they had to remove to get at the coal seam.  The miners had to pay for the timber used for “cribbing” the ceiling and walls. It wasn’t until the early 50’s that the union negotiated that no one under 16 could work in the mines. 

This is a “bull wheel”, basically a large pulley used to haul men or coal to the surface.  The promotional picture of the Men of the Deeps website shows them sitting on this same wheel with the Atlantic Ocean in the background.

 

The highlight of the day is going into a “simulated” coal mine.  The shaft only goes down about 50 feet, but the constantly dripping water and the four foot high chambers gave you a “bit of a feel” for what it would be like to work in an old coal mine.  Our guide for the tour was Abbie Michalik. Abbie is a hale, 75 years old and started in the mines at age 16, learning the business from his father.  He had worked under ground for 50 years, before the mine closed permanently. He told us some pretty chilling stories about mine explosions and collapses.  Especially poignant was after a collapse, the coroner asked for a volunteer to go back into the mine to help in the identification of bodies – Abbie volunteered and helped bring the bodies of his friends to the surface.

  Janet asked Abbie if he had “black lung”, and he told her that he had some but it wasn’t bad; he attributed his good fortune to chewing tobacco and spitting a lot which he claims helped to clear his lungs.  Almost all of the miners suffered or died from black lung.

All of the underground guides are former coal miners and it is sad to think that within the next decade or two, we will lose this “collective memory” of coal mining in Cape Breton.  A must see if you are visiting Cape Breton!

Fortress Louisbourg

Sunday, July 21 – Day 33

We drove from our campground to Fortress Louisbourg located at the north-east end of Cape Breton Island.  The Fortress played a pivotal role in the French occupation of North America in the 1700’s. The fortress was a busy centre of trade and a source of salted cod fish for the homeland.  It was besieged and captured twice by a superior British naval force and was razed after the last capture.  The current fortress was rebuilt on the stone foundations and bastions of the original.  It seems that the French were meticulous about keeping records of even the most mundane aspects of everyday life. 
 
A shuttle bus takes you about 1 km from the visitors centre to the actual fort and other than the  tourists everyone is in period dress.  Costumed interpreters were everywhere throughout the grounds.  We were greeted by a guard at the entrance to the fortress, who challenged us in English and in French before we were allowed to pass through. 
As is typical of the Lewis’s, we were there for most of the day and caught one of the last shuttle buses back to the visitors centre.

From Ma Bell to Mary Ann Falls

Saturday, July 20 – Day 32

We took our time today as it was only about a 10 minute drive from our campsite to downtown Baddeck, Nova Scotia.  We arrived at the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site shortly after 10:00 AM. Everyone remembers Bell for his invention of the telephone, but he also developed or improved upon the gramophone and the hydrofoil for boats; he was also involved with the first flight of an aircraft in the British Commonwealth.  It was on frozen Lake Bras D’Or, near his home in Baddeck, NS, in February 1909,  that the Silver Dart was flown.  He was also a teacher of the deaf and invented several hearing aid devices. 

Bell came to the Baddeck area in 1885, to escape the summer heat in Washington, DC and built his summer “home” here the following year. Beinn Bhreagh was the Scottish name that he gave his retreat, meaning “Beautiful Mountain”.  (The family home is still maintained by his heirs and is not open to the public.)  He had already invented the telephone and was wealthy enough to devote his time to other interests.  He was considered a bit of an “eccentric” by the locals because he would often be seen flying tetrahedron kites or trying some new hydrofoil watercraft. The museum has a large number of personal photos and inventions made by Bell and you get a good feeling about the person, that Alexander Graham Bell was.

We spent about 2 1/2 hours in the museum and returned to our trailer for a quick lunch and we were off once again on the Cabot Trail – we were told that we should do the trail from both directions to get a better perspective of the scenery and Cape Breton National Park.  So with that thought in mind we set out once again.  We stopped at many of the scenic lookouts that we saw yesterday in the rain but it was much nicer to actually see something today. 

We had heard about a waterfall (Mary Ann waterfall) on the east side of the park which we understood was only a short distance off of the main Cabot Trail, so we decided to drive there.  We proceeded down a single lane dirt track that had not been graded for some time.  The ridges in the”road” sent the rear-end of the truck skittering across the roadway…the posted maximum speed of 30 Km/hour was optimistic.  It took us close to 1/2 hour to travel the 7 Km.  At the end of the road we had another .2 Km hike to the falls.  This was taking on the trappings of a full fledged expedition.  Janet opted-out and left me to go it alone.  The down hill incline of the path helped get me there fairly quickly. When I went down the final 39 steps I came upon “party central” – there were about 2 dozen kids there drinking and diving off the rocks – in general just having a good time. 

The old man crashing their party didn’t seem to bother them. 

The hike back to the parking lot gave me considerably more exercise.  We finally got home around 7:45.  Janet is getting less and less tolerant of these day long excursions.