A Day in Iona, Cape Breton

I was recently invited to join members of The Iona Connection at their 25th Anniversary Celebration held at the Highland Village Museum (http://museum.gov.ns.ca/hv/), Iona, Cape Breton. The Connection is a group of heritage related organisations who work together to jointly market their sites and programs throughout Cape Breton Island. The meeting was very well attended with a business portion to start the proceedings - including the recently completed report, "A Sustainable Path to Heritage in Cape Breton", followed by lunch and reminiscences by Jim St Clair.










Jim is a Heritage Elder, not only for Cape Breton but Nova Scotia as a whole and remains a passionate voice, both physically and spiritually, for museums and their kin. He was honoured for his contributions at the 25th Celebrations.

There was also a presentation on the new Interpretive Plan for Museums in Nova Scotia. Visit the Province of Nova Scotia, Tourism, Culture & Heritage website for a downloadable full version of the plan. I'm sure there will be lots more to follow on the plan and its potential as a tool for all museums in the province.

Road Side Trip

We had yet another beautiful Fall day for our travels and celebrations. Cape Breton is breath taking at this time of year and the mini trip across on the ferry at Little Narrows was picture perfect. The Highland Village Museum is well worth a visit and a true step back in time to experience the life of early Scottish settlers on the Island. Programming at the museum joins in the "spirit" of the season and at this time the hall was duly festooned with cobwebs and lurking Gaelic ghouls in preparation for

"All Hallows Eve".

Baskets in the Barn

I joined members of the Nova Scotia Basketry Guild on their annual excursion to demonstrate basket weaving using materials and technique sympathetic to the Ross Farm Museum interpretation period. It was a damp and dismal day, but spirits were cheery in the barn with the wood stove going and delicious treats on hand. We wove freshly harvested withrod into traditional harvest baskets. You can see one completed that day to the right of Monique at the barn entrance.

Ross Farm Museum http://rossfarm.museum.gov.ns.ca is tucked away in the centre of the province but well worth the trip. It is blessed with an incredibily skilled and dedicated staff. Outfitted in period costumes, they go about the daily tasks of farm life complete with animals, crops & household chores. Visitors have the opportunity to interact with all the inhabitants and get a nitty gritty idea of what life was really like in rural Nova Scotia in the 1800's

Road side trip

Ross Farm hosts a Farmer's Market during the "Growing Season". We were fortunate to be there for its last day for this year. Stalwart stall holders cheered marketers braving the wet weather and, for their part, shoppers had a fabulous time buying homemade sausages,mustard, veggies, bread, soap and more.... Part or the "growing" group Farmers markets in the province.