Sydney, the former Industrial Heartland of Nova Scotia

Leaving the cruise ship dock, we drive through the historic north end, and on to Sydney’s downtown, passing beautiful historic Wentworth park, located on to Whitney Avenue. This is the area where the steel company executives, and other “wealthy“ elites of Sydney resided during boom years steel and coal production . This nicely contrasts with the Ashby and Whitney Pier area, where the steel workers and miners resided. We proceed along Sydney Harbour, across which, we may catch a glimpse of the Newfoundland Ferry Terminal.

Sydney Harbour - Fort Petrie

Very soon, we’ll arrive at Fort Petrie. This “fort/post” was established to protect the steel plant during WWII and to also help prevent U-BOATS from sinking passenger ships traveling from North Sydney to Newfoundland. The U-boats did manage to sink a passenger ferry, where the loss of life numbered over 100. We stop here for 20 minutes, giving you time to take pictures and do a bit of exploring.

New Waterford - Colliery Lands Park

The former mining town of New Waterford is next on our itinerary, where we’ll stop to visit the Colliery Lands Park, built on a former coal mine site. Here, in this beautiful park, we find monuments with the names of the 298 coal miners killed working in the local coal mines. Flags flying from the 17 countries, of the peoples who came to work in the local mines, in the early 20th century.

Lingan - Babe Ruth

It is on to the fishing village of Lingan, passing the Church of Brother Mathias.  It is he, while working at an orphanage in Baltimore, cared for and taught a young man to play baseball. This young man was Babe Ruth.....

Cape Breton University

From here we proceed to the Sydney-Glace Bay Highway passing Cape Breton University and on into downtown Sydney (some may wish to shop/explore this area, then walk back to the ship which is nearby) and back to the dock.

This Excursion will take about 3 hours +/- and is fully narrated.