Thursday, June 14, 2018, was our only full day in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. Tomorrow we drive into North Sydney and take the ferry to Newfoundland. Today dawned rainy and miserable, so we decided to just drive over to North Sydney and work out all the logistics of getting Buster and Dusty on the ferry. We are glad that we did. We were able to book reserved seating on the upper deck. No need to worry about finding and holding two seats together for the six hour ferry ride.
With our trip all sorted, we decided to do a little exploring. Right next to the ferry terminal is the North Sydney Historical Museum. North Sydney was settled around 1785 by European and Loyalist settlers from the U.S. colonies. It emerged as a major wooden shipbuilding center in the early 19th century, building many brigs and brigantines for the English market. Wooden shipbuilding declined in the 1860s, but the same decade saw the arrival of increasing numbers of steamships, drawn to North Sydney for bunker coal. By 1870 North Sydney was the fourth largest port in Canada dealing in ocean-going vessels. The Western Union cable office had been established here in 1875. Some of the earliest cable equipment was on display. Pay no attention to the photographer in the mirror.
The little museum was chock full of historical photographs. There were so many, they couldn't display them all. Large photo albums lined several tables.
The old fire truck was prominently displayed in the front window of the museum.
Coal mining played an important part in the history of North Sydney. Sydney Mines lies immediately northeast of North Sydney and faces Sydney across Sydney Harbour. Sydney Mines was once a major coal-producing community. Mining began locally in 1766, and in 1830 systematic operations were undertaken. One of the area mines extended about 5 miles out under the sea. The last mine was closed in 1975.
The majority of fossils recovered in Cape Breton can be traced to coal fields. Fossils have been found ranging from whole or partial tree trunks and branches to shrubs and vine growth. The evolution marked by these fossils dates back to pre-historic times – to approximately 325 million years ago when the region was covered in lush, dense vegetation.
Our next stop brought us to the Cape Breton Fossil Centre. Here we traveled back in time 315 million years ago. Back then, Cape Breton was part of the large supercontinent known as Pangaea. Sitting on the equator, Pangaea was hot, humid and full of plants, bugs and small lizards. Dinosaurs didn't show up until 150 million years later.
The reason we can find all these really, really, really old fossils is due to the uplift of the Appalachian Mountains. The oldest layers of the earth's crust were thrust up. Erosion washed away all the more recent stuff. Coal mining opened up the area. The coal miners were the first to discover the fossil and developed unique names for them. The fossilized bark of the Sigillaria Tree was known as "tire tracks."
The tree fern could grow up to 100 feet tall, but it had very tiny fern leaves.
A good number of the fossils were displayed on shelves for closer inspection.
The rarer fossils were under glass. The Sphenophyllum Vine was a creeping vine. We loved the little patterns they left behind.
Sometimes there are so many fossils in one rock it is hard to designated it. Such rocks are designated "Fossil Salad," and this is an example:
While the majority of fossils were plants and seeds, they have found evidence of early reptiles. The Anthracosauria is an order of extinct reptile-like amphibians that flourished during the Carboniferous and early Permian periods. Here is an artist's representation:
Here are the fossil footprints that Anthracosauria left.
Our tour included a behind-the-scenes look at the lab area where the fossils are cleaned, categorized and prepared for exhibit.
We were excited to be able to take a small fossil home with us!
To celebrate we stopped at Big Spruce Brewing to sample their brews.
Mischief managed! Time to prepare for our ferry ride. Newfoundland here we come!
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