North Sydney Nova Scotia

On Wednesday June 4 we packed up and moved 234 miles to Little Bras D'or near North Sydney on Cape Breton Island on the northern tip of Nova Scotia.

Our route today

We checked in at Arm of Gold Campground, which was very quiet and scenic.

Our campsite was on a low bluff overlooking a small bay

Cape Breton Island

Cape Breton is home to a unique regional fiddling style: From Wikipedia:

Cape Breton fiddling is a regional violin style which falls within the Celtic music idiom. The more predominant style in Cape Breton Island's fiddle music was brought to North America by Scottish immigrants during the Highland Clearances. These Scottish immigrants were primarily from Gaelic-speaking regions in the Scottish Highlands and the Outer Hebrides. Although fiddling has changed since this time in Scotland, it is widely held that the tradition of Scottish fiddle music has been better preserved in Cape Breton. While there is a similar tradition from the Irish-style fiddling, that style is overlooked as a result of the Scottish presence in the area.

In the span of the 1920s to the 70s, Cape Breton's fiddling style faced decline.

Dance styles associated with the music are Cape Breton step dancing, Cape Breton square dancing (Iona style and Inverness style), and highland dancing.

In 2005, as a tribute to the area's traditional music, the construction of a tourism center and the world's largest fiddle and bow was completed on the waterfront in Sydney.

Our band of gypsies at the World's Largest Fiddle

Dinner at Flavor on the Water at the Sydney waterfront

While parked at Little Bras D'or we visited the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site, a unit of Parks Canada, near Baddeck NS.  

Alexander Graham Bell had many notable accomplishments besides the invention of the telephone.

From Wikipedeia:

Alexander Graham Bell (March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885.

Bell's father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on elocution and speech, and both his mother and wife were deaf, profoundly influencing Bell's life's work. His research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices, which eventually culminated in his being awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone, on March 7, 1876. Bell considered his invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study.

Many other inventions marked Bell's later life, including ground-breaking work in optical telecommunications, hydrofoils, and aeronautics. Bell also had a strong influence on the National Geographic Society and its magazine while serving as its second president from 1898 to 1903.

Beyond his work in engineering, Bell had a deep interest in the emerging science of heredity. His work in this area has been called "the soundest, and most useful study of human heredity proposed in nineteenth-century America ... Bell's most notable contribution to basic science, as distinct from invention."

 

Hello? Hello? Who's there?

Alexander Graham Bell is best known for inventing the telephone, but he also made significant contributions in other areas like aviation, hydrofoils, medical technology, and teaching the deaf. He was a prolific inventor with a wide range of accomplishments beyond the telephone. 

Here's a more detailed list:

Communication:

• Telephone: The invention that made him famous, allowing for the transmission of speech over electrical wires. 
• Photophone: An invention that transmitted speech on a beam of light. 
• Graphophone: An improved version of the phonograph that could record and play back sound. 
• Harmonic Telegraph: An early device that Bell used as a foundation for his telephone research. 
• Metal Detector: Developed to locate a bullet in President Garfield's body after an assassination attempt. 

Aviation:

• Aerial Experiment Association: Founded to advance aviation technology. 
• Hydrofoil: Designed boats that travel on water using wings to lift the hull above the surface, some of the fastest watercraft. 
• Early Airplane Prototypes: Pioneered research into heavier-than-air flying machines. 
• Kites: Developed tetrahedral kites for research purposes. 

Medical:

• Audiometer: A device for detecting hearing problems.
• Vacuum Jacket (Iron Lung): Developed to help polio patients breathe.
• Bullet Probe: Used to detect the location of bullets in the body. 

Other:

• Volta Laboratory: A research facility in Washington D.C. focused on scientific innovation. 
• National Geographic Society: One of the founders. 
• Teaching the Deaf: Bell dedicated significant time to teaching speech to the deaf, influenced by his mother and wife. 
• Bell's work extended across various fields, demonstrating his diverse talents and dedication to scientific advancement. 

A brief history of recoded sound:

What???  No mention of 8-track????

Replica of Bell's study

Tetrahedral kites designed by Bell

To see more of Alexander Graham Bell Tetrahedrals click HERE

HD-4 or Hydrodome number 4 was an early research hydrofoil watercraft developed by Bell. It was designed and built at the Bell Boatyard on Bell's Beinn Bhreagh estate near Baddeck, Nova Scotia. In 1919, it set a world marine speed record of 70.86 miles per hour.

Remains of HD-4 hull

Recreated HD-4

Mi'kmaq Grand Council Flag – Traditional Indigenous Banner

Tomorrow is a big moving day.  We will board the ferry for a 7-hour passage to Newfoundland.  Then the real adventure begins! 

Bon Voyage!

Five Islands Nova Scotia

We departed Shediac NB on a bright sunny day. Before we knew it we had crossed into Nova Scotia.

Scenes from the Nova Scotia Visitor's Center:

'twas a wee bit breezy this day

We were serenaded by a piper dressed in full tartan at the visitor's center.

From Wikipedia: 

"Nova Scotia is a province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and most populous province in Atlantic Canada, with an estimated population of over 1 million as of 2024; it is also the second-most densely populated province in Canada, and second-smallest province by area. The province comprises the Nova Scotia peninsula and Cape Breton Island, as well as 3,800 other coastal islands. The province is connected to the rest of Canada by the Isthmus of Chignecto, on which the province's land border with New Brunswick is located."

Topographic map of Nova Scotia (also shows PEI)

The Provincial flag of Nova Scotia consists of a white field with a blue diagonal cross extending to the corners of the flag and the royal arms of Scotland superimposed at the center of the cross.

We set up camp at Five Islands RV Campground at Five Islands NS.  From Wikipedia:

Five Islands is a rural community in Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada with a population of 316 located on the north shore of Minas Basin, home of the highest tides in the world. It is named after five small islands – Moose, Diamond, Long, Egg, and Pinnacle – located just off the coast. The islands are an exposed part of the North Mountain Basalt. Moose Island is in Colchester County. The remaining islands are in Cumberland County. Beyond Pinnacle Island is a seastack called Pinnacle Rock.

Our camp at Five Islands RV Campground overlooked the Bay of Fundy.

What a view!

The view from our camp site at high tide

Same view at low tide

Ginger liked the view too

A low fog rolls in

Five Islands Lighthouse is located at Five Islands Lighthouse Park.  Go figure.  It looks pretty much like all the other lighthouses we have seen in the Maritimes.

Five Islands Lighthouse. Photo from novascotia.com

While at Five Islands we toured the Joggins Fossil Cliffs.  Joggins is famous for its record number of fossils from a rainforest ecosystem approximately 310 million years ago, dating to the Pennsylvanian "Coal Age" during the Late Carboniferous Period.

Petrified tree section

We don't know what this is.  Perhaps a very small shell?

After our tour at Joggins Fossil Cliffs we stopped in at Flippin' Mike's Gourmet Burgers and Fries.

Mike was not expecting many customers this day.  In fact, he had planned to just spend the day catching up on paperwork. But then the Newmar Kountry Klub showed up en masse.  Not to be fazed Mike sent for 2 helpers and was able to serve us all.  He ultimately ran out of meat, but was able to send someone to his food truck, where he had stashed some more burgers.  I had the Flippin' Philly Special: a double patty with bacon and Cheddar, topped with a fried egg and two onion rings served on a toasted garlic bun with flippin' sauce. I think it was the best burger I have ever eaten.  Cheers to Mike!

Flippin' Mike and his reinforcements

We have enjoyed a lot of fine seafood on this trip.

Scallops at Harbour View Restaurant in Parrsboro NS

Getting in and out of giant Adirondack chairs is not pretty!

Ironically, while we didn't see a single fox on PEI, we did see one near Parrsboro NS on the way home from dinner.  Following is a fairly poor quality video from my dash cam.  Look left and don't blink.

Roger, another member of our Newmar Maritimes Caravan, got a much better photo of a red fox about the same time and location as the one in my video.  The difference is that Roger's fox stopped and posed for him.

Maybe the same fox as in video above?

After 2 nights at Five Islands we move once again tomorrow to North Sydney NS. (NS, NS?)