HIGHLAND MUSEUM, IONA NS, ON LITTLE NARROWS ISLAND.
Sunday was a very cloudy day with high humidity and temperatures around 75 degrees. We decided to take a ride to the Little Narrows Island to visit the Highland Village Museum. We had to take a ferry ride across the water. It was cool! There is no waiting time. We drove right on the ferry and paid $5.25. The ride took about 3 minutes. The ferry is connected by a cable that pulls you right across.
We took the long way to the museum and drove through the countryside, some along the water. The road was in bad shape because not many homes are along this side and it is not well traveled. The view was spectacular although covered in a lot of fog. As we went up one hill we drove through the clouds, it seemed.
Steve, always the adventurous one, took a dead end road that went about 5-6 miles to the end by the water. There was a home there at, Mackay PT. What a wonderful place to live!
Next we went to Mac Cormack Provincial Park. The road up to the picnic area had 4-wheel drive written all over it. Steve was ecstatic! He put the truck in 4-wheel drive and up we went. On the way down we stopped and looked at the Plaster Hills. We have never seen anything like it.
These hills are called Plaster Hills. They look like gray chalk and some are covered with trees.
Then finally we reached the Highland Village Museum. The Highland Village explores four eras of Gaelic life and the major events that shaped their people. It is presented in chronological order. Some of the buildings have people dressed in period costumes and they speak Gaelic. If you do not understand they will speak English.
The first home we came to was a The Black House in 1824 Highlands of Scotland. The woman inside explained that she and her family were starving. There were no jobs and people were dying there so they came to Nova Scotia to have a better chance at a new life. The blockhouse is built of rock walls, an outside layer and an inside layer. Between these two layers were small rocks and sand. This kept the wind and cold out. The roof was made of sod. It had a dirt floor and the small animals also lived in the house. This family was lucky that they had a bed chamber. This was made of wood and everyone would get inside and close the doors to sleep.
Bed chamber
After crossig the ocean with very little the people built a log house in the Cape Breton Highlands. The Scottish families spread to different areas based on where they lived in Scotland, so when families would come over they would already have some relatives to stay with until they got settled.
When the children got older and moved out they would build a wood frame house.
Steve sat in this chair and told the lady of the house that it was most uncomfortable. The lady was insulted and said he was the first one to say that.
As time went on the homes became more sophisticated. The first homes had fireplaces and then this changed to wood stoves.
The villages would have a general store with Post Office; blacksmith shop; one room school house; a carding house, where they would turn wool into rolls that would be made into yarn.
Many of the young adults would leave Nova Scotia for the big cities, especially Boston. It was interesting to go into the different homes and see the furniture, gramophone, switchboard, telephone, etc.
