Hello, all! My name is Lauren and I work at Nova Scotia Archives & Records Management in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The archives acquires, preserves, and makes available the province's documentary heritage. And what's documentary heritage? Photos, maps, letters, manuscripts, films, audio recordings, the records of government, and more! We have hundreds of years of Nova Scotian history, here, and I get to share it with all of you online.
This past weekend I was thinking of some of the archives' photos in particular as I drove around the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton.
The initial route of the Cabot Trail was completed in 1932, but it was not the pristine, paved road we drive today. Check out the photos below to see what I mean:
The archives acquires, preserves, and makes available the province's documentary heritage. And what's documentary heritage? Photos, maps, letters, manuscripts, films, audio recordings, the records of government, and more! We have hundreds of years of Nova Scotian history, here, and I get to share it with all of you online.
This past weekend I was thinking of some of the archives' photos in particular as I drove around the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton.
The initial route of the Cabot Trail was completed in 1932, but it was not the pristine, paved road we drive today. Check out the photos below to see what I mean:
Cabot Trail near Cap Rouge, ca. 1930s
North Mountain, Cabot Trail, ca. 1930s
North Mountain, Cabot Trail, ca. 1930sThe twists and turns of the trail require careful driving today, but imagine driving the Cabot Trail, unpaved, with few guardrails. And it wasn't only other cars you'd be sharing the road with:
These photos were taken by Clara Dennis (1881-1958), one of the province´s first travel writers, and the first woman to write extensively about Nova Scotia from a personal perspective:
"Then and there was born the resolution to seek and find Nova Scotia. I would travel over her highways and byways. I would know her cities, her towns, her villages. I would visit the remote and but little frequented islands of her coast. I would talk with the men, women and children I would meet. In their lives would be unfolded the soul of Nova Scotia..."
Cabot Trail, just before ascending Cap Rouge
These photos were taken by Clara Dennis (1881-1958), one of the province´s first travel writers, and the first woman to write extensively about Nova Scotia from a personal perspective:
"Then and there was born the resolution to seek and find Nova Scotia. I would travel over her highways and byways. I would know her cities, her towns, her villages. I would visit the remote and but little frequented islands of her coast. I would talk with the men, women and children I would meet. In their lives would be unfolded the soul of Nova Scotia..."
Clara Dennis, Down in Nova Scotia, p. 1
Dennis toured Nova Scotia extensively, and her trips led subsequently to three major books, all in the travel-literature genre: Down in Nova Scotia: My Own, My Native Land (1934), More about Nova Scotia: My Own, My Native Land (1937) and Cape Breton Over (1942).
As part of our Canada's Ocean Playground tourism exhibit, the archives scanned 2500 of Clara Dennis' photos which were taken between 1930 and 1940 in her travels around the province.
Along the trail I visited spots like Ingonish, Dingwall, Cape North, Baddeck, and Chéticamp with a sense of discovery. I know that visitors have been traveling Nova Scotia's Highlands for hundreds of years, but every time I visit I feel as though I'm exploring, like Clara.
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