Baddeck, Nova Scotia

We stayed at a KOA campground just a few miles down the road from a small town called Baddeck.  On one of our day trips we saw the Alexander Graham Bell Museum located on the outskirts of town.  We decided to stop and have a look.

 

 

 

The Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site is operated by the Canadian Parks.

 

 

 

The building and grounds were beautiful.  The property is located on a hill overlooking the beautiful Bras d'Or Lake.  

 

 

Daylilies and blooming hostas. 

 

 

 

 

Looks like springtime!

 

 

 

Alexander Graham  Bell was a Scottish-born scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone. 

Bell's mother and wife were both deaf, which influenced his research on hearing and speech.  This work further led him to experiment with hearing devices which eventually culminated in Bell being awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone in 1876.  However......

 

 

Many other inventions marked Bell's life, including optical telecommunications, hydrofoils and aeronautics.    He became one of the founding members of the National Geographic Society.

 

Bell was born in Scotland, moved to Canada at age 23, then later became a naturalized United States citizen and had a home in  Cambridge, Massachusetts.  From there, Bell, his wife, and children moved to Washington, D.C. so he could attend the many court cases involving the patent disputes.  The Bell's had a vacation on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, spending time at the small village of Baddeck.  Two years later he built a large house christened the Lodge and then later built a complex of buildings, including a new laboratory.  He also built  the Bell Boatyard on the estate, employing up to 40 people building experimental craft as well as wartime lifeboats and workboats for the Royal Canadian Navy. 

 

 

 

Below is a picture we took at the museum of Bell's work on developing a hydrofoil boat.

 

 

 

This is a complete replica of  the actual flying boat.

 

 

 

 

In the background of photo below, the elongated objects are the only remaining pieces of the original boat.  He was developing this boat for the military, but the war ended and the military had no further interest.  It was abandoned on the beach at his estate until these pieces were salvaged.

 

In the picture above, the plane in the foreground is the "Silver Dart".   Designed and built by Alexander Graham Bell and members of the Aerial Experimental Association.  It was constructed out of steel tubing, wood, bamboo, friction tape, wire and rubberized fabric and doped linen;  it had no brakes and was very difficult to manoeuver.  It became the first powered aircraft to fly in Canada when it took off from Baddeck, Nova Scotia on February 23, 1909.

The two pictures below show the ladder style hydrofoils on the hull of the hydrofoil boat that he was experimenting with. 

 

 

 

 

 

In all, there were 18 patents granted in his name alone, and 12 he shared with his collaborators.   His interests were extremely varied. 

 

We really enjoyed visiting the museum and learning so much about his life and accomplishments.

 

 

 

As we were heading back to the campground, you could look down from the mountain and see the bridge that spanned the Great Bras d'Or which is part Bras d'Or Lake and part Atlantic Ocean.  The KOA we stayed in was at the food of the bridge. 

 

 

 

 

We were parked up high, so we had an excellent view from the motorhome!

 

  

Had a great visit.  We will be leaving Cape Breton Island area and heading for Prince Edward Island.