East Coast Cruising - Sydney, Nova Scotia

September brought a cruise to the East Coast for Annette and I. We started in New York, visited two cities in Maine, then sailed over the International Boundary into Canada and visited several cities in the Maritime region. The cruise ended in Quebec City and we ended our holidays after spending time in Montreal.

Click on an picture to see it full size, of course, all the pictures can be seen on my Flickr site. Link is at the end of the story

Day 6 finds us in Sydney, Nova Scotia, one of the oldest provinces in Canada and one of the earliest settled. First, a little background about Nova Scotia, which is Latin for "New Scotland"

Founded in 1621 by Sir William Alexander of Menstrier, who appealed to King James of Scotland that a "New Scotland" was needed to expand national interests alongside New England, New France, and New Spain, Nova Scotia became an ideal territory for early Scottish settlers.

Nearly a century later, after the United Kingdom gained control over the area, there was a massive Scottish immigration spark. Adventurous Highlanders rushed to emigrate from all over Scotland to settle throughout Nova Scotia.

By the mid-1700s, British military officer, general and acting governor of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence, invited American New England residents to relocate to Nova Scotia. This was largely due to the expulsion of the Acadians that left large land vacancies and created yet another Scottish population surge.

The new settlers were comprised of Scots that had fled to New England in the last century to gain religious freedom. These descendants formed a major part of the life and development of Nova Scotia and many early residents remain there to this day. 

Sydney is a relatively small town,  with a population of 30,000 or so. The downtown core located a city block up the hillside from the harbour only a few blocks X a few blocks wide. You can easily walk around the old part of town and see the historic buildings that have survived. A few churches and an original Bank Of Montreal building is what we took in on our stroll in the afternoon.

First part of the day was a bus tour of the city and it's outskirts, which took no time at all.  :)
To make up time we were taking to the Jost House Museum, a museum located in a small heritage house built in 1786.
The house originally belonged to a prominent merchant, today is a catch all museum of local history representing everything from local life to the mining industry to the war efforts in WW2  

The small museum was chockablock crammed with everything the locals could gather in their effort to show the public of times gone past.

Even the new Easy automatic washer was here to show the great strides technology had made through the years.   
The company's name was changed from the Syracuse Washing Machine Corporation to the Easy Washing Machine Corporation in 1932, so this washer must be 1932 or newer.

After an hour or so spent touring the museum, we were back on the bus for further touring of the city. One of the high points of the city is near one of the cemeteries, which provides a rare overview of the city and suburbs.

One of our stops was a rejuvenated local park where one of the natural waterways was spruced up to make an inviting neighbourhood park designed for strolling or picnicking.
Seemed like a good place for picture of the two lovebirds.  :)

After the tour we went back on board the ship for a break and to drop off some gear, the we exited the ship and did a walking tour of the downtown area. We did not see a lot of heritage buildings on our walk,perhaps we did not cover enough territory to see more of them. 

In Canada, in any old part of town you will find two buildings. One is the train station, the other is a Bank Of Montreal building.
We found the Bank Of Montreal building right in the middle of town. Encouraged by the industrial economic boom created by large steel plants fed by local coal money, the BOM building was built in 1901 
These are always grand building, and when ever I see them in various cities they still carry their sense of class to this day.

Back on board in time for our dinner time departure, we went up to the top deck which provided a commanding view of Sydney, both the downtown area and the surrounding areas. This was the highest place we found, higher than the buildings in the downtown core.

Time to set sail for our next port of Call, which tomorrow will be Charlottetown, PEI. Included will be a tour of Anne Of Green Gables, for those of you whom are devotees, stick around.  

To see all of the pictures for Sydney and a few cruise ship photos click on the link here to go to my Flickr web site.
You will even get to see Annette going down the outdoor water slides on the ship !