Sydney, Nova Scotia

The Big Fiddle on the Sydney waterfront.

September 20, 2019

We awoke to a crisp fall morning and readied ourselves for our first day exploring the province of Nova Scotia. We were anchored in Sydney Harbor and once again had to take a tender ride to shore. Sydney is located on Cape Breton Island on the northeastern part of the province.

When we arrived in port the first thing we saw as we strolled along the waterfront was the Big Fiddle. The giant replica standing 60 feet high was unveiled in 2006 as a tribute to the folk music and traditions of the province’s Celtic community. We would have loved to explore the nearby shops and catch a concert but we had to board a tour bus for our ride to Baddeck and the Alexander Graham Bell Museum.

Baddeck, a town of 800, was a 50-minute bus ride from Sydney. We traveled through hilly countryside dotted with colorful trees and expansive bodies of water. It wasn’t long before we arrived at the museum and Bell’s favorite summer escape. In 1885 the Bell family vacationed in Baddeck and were so taken with the area they returned the following year to build a summer home. Two years later, a larger complex of buildings was built including a new laboratory. Bell would spend his final, and some of his most productive years in residence in both Washington, D.C., where he and his family initially resided for most of the year, and in Baddeck.

We thoroughly enjoyed the museum. It was outstanding and showed Bell’s involvement in the telephone and work with the deaf (including his wife who was deaf from the age of five). Exhibits displayed how he and his associates achieved Canada’s first powered flight with their airplane The Silver Dart, produced the world’s fastest watercraft, and built advanced recording equipment, an early metal detector and huge tetrahedron kites.

The museum included both actual vehicles and reconstructions. Some of the latter were quite large. Original artefacts, films, and family photographs highlighted his scientific and humanitarian work. It truly opened our eyes to the broad scope of his interests, energy and inventiveness. It was certainly a world-class exhibit and well worth the stop.

After touring the museum, we walked around the gorgeous grounds overlooking Baddeck Bay and Kidston Island with its picturesque lighthouse. It was a wonderful fall day to be exploring the beautiful sights of Baddeck, Nova Scotia.