Pier 21, Halifax

It’s a few years since we visited Pier 21 at Halifax.

This was the immigration shed, where about one million immigrants, refugees, war brides, evacuee children and displaced persons entered Canada between 1928 and 1971. It was known as the ‘Gateway to Canada.’

Pier 21 became a National Museum of Canada in 2011.

Liners docked at a wharf divided into Piers 20, 21, 22 and 23.  Pier 21 had a railway booking office and passenger train sidings for special immigration trains.

Various posters show how Canada tried to entice new immigrants to Canada, with promises of free land, healthy climate and cheap passages.

Boat loads of people, disembarked at pier 21, with their few belongings.

Then had to wait on hard seats until they were processed and admitted into Canada, or rejected and returned to their place of origin.

The ‘Oceans of Hope’ multimedia presentation takes you on a journey through Pier 21’s history, and presents individual stories and memoirs.

War brides tell how they followed their Canadian husbands to Canada and how they settled, or didn’t, with their new in-laws.

During  WWII, 500,000 military personnel departed from Pier 21 and then came back through it, if they were lucky enough to have survived.

This was the storty of the Walnut, from Estonia.

But the tale of the St Louis was not so happy.

The MS St Louis was a German liner which made a memorable voyage in 1939, with 937 German Jewish refugees.  The passengers  were denied entry to Cuba, the United States and then Canada, and had to face a journey back to Europe. Historians have estimated that, after their return to Europe, approximately a quarter of the ship’s passengers died in concentration camps.

I have not written about Pier 21 before, as I did not find it a particularly exciting museum. It was not a patch on the Mining Museum at Glace Bay, The Fortress of Louisbourg or Alexander Graham Bell Museum.

Pier 21 invites you to look up your ancestors who arrived here. I didn’t think we had anyone to research.

BUT —-Not so long ago, Jeff received an email from a cousin, telling him how their Grandfather’s brothers had been sent to Canada in 1914. These boys of 13 and 16 years had been at Quarriers Home, just outside Glasgow, after the death of their parents.  They were then sent to Canada on the Hesperian which landed on 14th May 1914.

These boys were 2 of what became known as the ‘Home Children’, here in Canada. The Quarriers children  went initially to “holding houses” at Belleville and Brockville in Ontario, before dispersing to an often arduous life on farms and homesteads.

At no time during Jeff’s upbringing did he ever hear of these uncles from his father or Grandfather. It’s sad that these boys had no further contact with any of their relatives in Scotland or Ireland. I have read that  the Home children were ashamed of what had happened to them and kept their past hidden from their families in Canada.

It is estimated that 12%, over 4 million, of the Canadian population is a descendant of a Home Child.That is a shocking statistic!

I borrowed a book from the local library about British Home Children – Neither Waif nor Stray, by Perry Snow.

Today I received an email saying that this book is free to download!!! It really tells the reader about these Home Children and how they felt about being sent away from everything they knew.

Alexander Graham Bell Museum, Baddeck, Cape Breton

While we were at Cape Breton, we visited the Alexander Graham Bell Museum at Baddeck.

As my fellow Scots would agree, we were taught at school, that A G Bell invented the telephone. So, I was not prepared for the surprise and enlightenment that awaited me, for Alexander Graham Bell was a prolific inventor.

Bell visited Baddeck in 1885 and fell in love with the surroundings.

He said, “I have travelled around the globe. I have seen the Canadian and American Rockies, the Andes, the Alps and the Highlands of Scotland, but for simple beauty, Cape Breton outrivals them all!”

He built his family’s summer home, Beinn Bhreagh, just across from where the museum is built, on a peninsula on the Bras d’Or Lake.

We were met at the door of the museum by Alexander himself, and his wife, Mabel.

Alexander was the inventor while Mabel managed the business issues. When Alexander had an idea for a new invention, he would grab whatever came to hand, whether it was Italian silk fabric to use on a tetrahedral kite, or a wooden blind to design an aeroplane propeller.

His fascination with kites led to his designing kites which would carry a man.

The Cygnet I, made of 3393 cells flew on December 6, 1907, manned by Lt. Thomas Selfridge. Selfridge lay in a space in the centre of the kite, moving his weight to control it. The Cygnet was towed by a steamer and rose to 168 feet for 7 minutes. However, when the wind dropped the kite came down on the water and was draggged along, destroying it.

AGB moved his attention to other flying machines.

The  Aerial Experiment Association was formed at Baddeck, in October 1907. Their work progressed to heavier-than-air machines, applying their knowledge of kites to gliders. Their final aircraft design was the Silver Dart. It was flown in February, 1909 and was the first aircraft flight in Canada.

A full-scale replica of The Silver Dart is on display at the museum.

This replica was flown by former astronaut Bjarni Tryggvason across Baddeck Bay in February 2009.

Bell also worked on hydrofoils as a means to help aeroplanes take off from water.

After several designs and protypes the HD-4 was built.

It was a sleek grey giant with a cigar-shaped hull sixty feet long, riding on two sets of hydrofoils, one forward and one aft.

On each side was a small hull attached to a solid, streamlined outrigger.

On September 9, 1919, the HD-4  set a world’s marine speed record of 70.86 miles per hour, a record that stood for ten years.

Bell managed to get both the British Navy and the United States Navy interested in his design, but neither navy placed an order. In the fall of 1921, the HD-4 was dismantled. Its big grey hull lay for decades on the shore at Beinn Bhreah, before it was eventually cut into sections and taken to the museum.

Among his other inventions, Bell invented pasteurization, an audiometer (a device to detect minor hearing problems), a photophone (a wireless telephone) and the metal detector.

Mill Village, Nova Scotia

Today we decided to have a closer look at Mill Village, rather than just driving past it on the highway. Mill Village developed as a logging and lumber community because of the River Medway.

We left the car at the Post Office and walked over this bridge which crossed the Medway.

Right on the other side of the bridge, by the river, is this interesting old village store.

The store sells most grocery items as well as Martock beef, chicken, veil and bison and Foxhill cheese. There is a gift shop and a very nice Cafe. We didn’t know about the cafe and had our picnic with us, but we still managed to try out their coffee and blueberry scones! Next time we’ll stop for lunch.

The walk through the community is surrounded by ancient hard wood trees and pine trees.

I  loved the way this tree and rock made a natural scupture.

There weren’t many locals about, apart from this little girl, tied to the tree. Perhaps this is a local form of punishment?

Next to Mill Village is Charleston, not Charlestown as in Fife.

The residents of this house seemed very pleased to see us.

As we walked back to the car, we had a last look at the River Medway.

We will bring our bikes here in the fall and cycle up the Medway to Bang Falls. I think the colours will be amazing!

A Typical Morning in Lunenburg

Lunenburg has a population of just over 2,000, but in the summer months it fills up with visitors.

We enjoy a walk around the town in the morning, before the tourists are on the streets.

This is Monday morning, looking down to the Railway Wharf.

And across to the Bluenose Golf Course.

This is the same view on Wednesday morning.

This is the Martha Seabury schooner, which was built here in Lunenburg.

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During the summer months, this old fishing boat, The Cape Rouge, sits at the wharf. It is used in the filming of the TV series, Haven.

The Adams and Knickle building is undergoing renovation work.

The booths are open ready for trips on the ocean.

The nearest boat does harbour tours, the Eastern Points goes  whale watching and the Eastern Star, sailing trips.

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The waterfront restaurants are open for breakfast.

But no one wanted to sit outside on Wednesday.

The horses are ready to take tourists on a tour of the old town.

And the Fisheries Museum will open to educate visitors on the history and past life of Lunenburg.

There is also a cruise ship in the harbour.

The Lagniappe, registered in the Marshall Islands, which you could charter for $110,000 per week!!!

The little shed beside the foundry is crooked and worn.

The latest boat at the foundry wharf. Am I back in Dundee – it is called the Discovery?

Looking across to Lunenburg from the golf course road,

to the colourful town and the Fisheries Museum.

But there was no view on Wednesday.

Even this osprey didn’t seem to see us.

He flew just above our heads.

Then back into the nest with the young.

There’s always something to see, walking around Lunenburg.