Photo of the Week September 27, 2013
The Cape Breton Living Photo of the Week for September 27, 2013 is of where my
father might have been standing when he was in Cape Breton back in 1942-43
during WW2. All I know is that he came over from Mulgrave on the ferry to Port
Hawkesbury for a visit and that the photo was taken nearby where the ferry came
in with the automobiles. As the years went by and with the opening of the Canso
Causeway, the area has changed, like the background and along the railroad
tracks. Looking at the photo (Photo of the Week photo), I’m thinking that the
old photo might have been taken further south along the train tracks with maybe
Point Tupper in the background? The next photo is where I think might be the
right place.
Another photo from the same visit is of him posing in front
of a large sign saying “PORT HAWKESBURY WELCOMES YOU TO CAPE BRETON
ISLAND”. This sign was set in front of
the Baptist Church on Granville Street for the tourists arriving on the island by
the automobile ferries until the opening of the Canso Causeway on May 20th,
1955.
Soon after this day visit, my father returned
home to Aylmer Quebec to later get married and raise a family in Ottawa. Looking
back, I know my father never knew that decades later he would come back to this
lovely island to visit a daughter of his who met and married a Cape Bretoner
and later made this island her home…