North Sydney, Nova Scotia
Encyclopedia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
's Cape Breton Regional Municipality
Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia
Cape Breton Regional Municipality often shortened to simply CBRM, is a regional municipality in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton County.According to the 2006 Census of Canada, the population within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality is 102,250...
.
Located on the north side of Sydney Harbour, along the eastern coast of Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
, North Sydney is an important port in Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada is the region of Canada comprising the four provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec: the three Maritime provinces – New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia – and Newfoundland and Labrador...
as it is the western terminus of the Marine Atlantic
Marine Atlantic
Marine Atlantic Inc. is an independent Canadian Crown corporation offering ferry services between the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.Marine Atlantic's corporate headquarters are in St...
ferry service. It acts as the marine link for the Trans-Canada Highway
Trans-Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway is a federal-provincial highway system that joins the ten provinces of Canada. It is, along with the Trans-Siberian Highway and Australia's Highway 1, one of the world's longest national highways, with the main route spanning 8,030 km...
to the island of Newfoundland, which is why North Sydney's nickname is called The Gateway To Newfoundland.
Marine Atlantic ferries currently operate from North Sydney's terminal to the ports of Port aux Basques
Channel-Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and Labrador
Channel-Port aux Basques is a town at the extreme southwestern tip of the island of Newfoundland fronting on the eastern end of the Cabot Strait. A Marine Atlantic ferry terminal is located in the town which is the primary entry point onto the island of Newfoundland and the western terminus of...
and Argentia
Argentia, Newfoundland and Labrador
Argentia is a community on the island of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is situated on a flat headland located along the southwest coast of the Avalon Peninsula on Placentia Bay...
. The company is one of the largest employers in the area.
History
North Sydney emerged as a major shipbuilding centre in the early 19th century building many brigBrig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
s and brigantine
Brigantine
In sailing, a brigantine or hermaphrodite brig is a vessel with two masts, only the forward of which is square rigged.-Origins of the term:...
s for the English market and later moving on to larger Barque
Barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...
s and, in 1851, the full rigged ship
Full rigged ship
A full rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel with three or more masts, all of them square rigged. A full rigged ship is said to have a ship rig....
Lord Clarendon
Lord Clarendon (ship)
Lord Clarendon was the largest wooden ship ever built in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The ship was named in honour of the British statesman, George Villiers, the 4th Earl of Clarendon. The ship was built at North Sydney by William Nesbitt to order for clients in Great Britain...
, the largest wooden ship ever built in Cape Breton. 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 it was the fourth largest port in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
dealing in ocean-going vessels, drawn for coal and due to the fact that The Western Union
Western Union
The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Its North American headquarters is in Englewood, Colorado. Up until 2006, Western Union was the best-known U.S...
cable office had been established here in 1875. The railroad came to Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
in 1891. At this time there were 2,513 people in North Sydney, compared to 2,417 in Sydney
Sydney, Nova Scotia
Sydney is a Canadian urban community in the province of Nova Scotia. It is situated on the east coast of Cape Breton Island and is administratively part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality....
.
In 1898 North Sydney was chosen by the Reid-Newfoundland Company
Robert Gillespie Reid
Sir Robert Gillespie Reid was a Scottish railway contractor most famous for building large railway bridges in Canada and the United States...
as the Canadian mainland terminal for a ferry service to Newfoundland; in June of that year the SS Bruce sailed from Port Aux Basques, it was the first ship to make that run.
World wars
During the First (Great War) and Second World Wars, North Sydney played an important role in the relay of information from EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to both Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
and Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. North Sydney was home to a Western Union Cable office. It was here where coded messages were sent from overseas then relayed on to the rest of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
On the morning of November 10, 1918, the office received a top-secret coded message from Europe. It stated that effective at 11 am the next day (November 11, 1918) all fighting would cease on land, sea and in the air.
Therefore the people of North Sydney, in particular Mrs. Annie Butler Smith, were the first to know about the end of the Great War. It is reported that on the night on November 10, 1918, over 200 servicemen celebrated by marching through the streets of the town to celebrate the end of the war, one day before the rest of the world knew.
German U Boats
On the night of October 13, 1942, the SS CaribouSS Caribou
The SS Caribou was a passenger ferry used by the Newfoundland government's ferry service between Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and North Sydney, Nova Scotia....
(a passenger ferry) left North Sydney harbour for Port aux Basques with 237 on board.
At 3:40 am on the morning of October 14, the Caribou was hit with a single torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
on her starboard side. 136 people perished.
United States Navy
During the Great War, the United States NavyUnited States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
operated an air base in North Sydney. The base was primarily used as a landing/launching area for seaplane
Seaplane
A seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are a subclass called amphibian aircraft...
s. Known as NAS North Sydney the base was originally located at Indian Beach while more permanent facilities were built at nearby Kelly's Beach (now called Munroe Park). The base was given the Naval postal address of "139 FPO New York" and the signal code "ALML". In command was Lt. Robert Donahue of the U.S. Coast Guard who operated under the direction of U.S. Navy Lt. Richard E. Byrd who was based in Halifax. The Kelly's Beach base closed in early 1919 but was re-activated by the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II.
Filmography
Even though North Sydney does not have a big arts community, it has served as the back drop for three movies.In 1995, scenes for Margaret's Museum
Margaret's Museum
Margaret's Museum is a critically acclaimed 1995 British-Canadian dark film drama, directed by Mort Ransen and based on Sheldon Currie's novel The Glace Bay Miners' Museum....
were filmed in the town. Most were shot on King Street, where a house was used as a mine managers house.
In 1999, two films were shot in North Sydney. First, was New Waterford Girl
New Waterford Girl
New Waterford Girl is a Canadian drama-comedy film, released in 1999. The film was directed by Allan Moyle, and written by Tricia Fish.New Waterford Girl stars Liane Balaban as Agnes-Marie "Moonie" Pottie, a teenager in New Waterford, Nova Scotia who dreams of life beyond her small-town home...
. Downtown North Sydney was used to represent downtown New Waterford
New Waterford, Nova Scotia
New Waterford is a Canadian urban community in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Regional Municipality.-Geography:New Waterford is located north of Sydney and northwest of Glace Bay. It is named after the city of Waterford, in Ireland. It is located near the ocean and is bordered on one side by cliffs...
in the 1970s.
The other film from this year was a CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
made for TV movie named Win Again, starring Gordon Pinsent
Gordon Pinsent
Gordon Edward Pinsent, CC, FRSC is a Canadian television, theatre and film actor.-Early life:Pinsent, the youngest of six children, was born in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, the son of Flossie ; originally from Clifton, Newfoundland, and Stephen Arthur Pinsent, a papermill worker and cobbler;...
. This time, North Sydney posed as a small town in Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
. The closing scene of the movie has a nice shot of the whole town, taken from a large crane from the downtown area.
Northside General Hospital
The only public hospital in the northside is in North Sydney, it is the Northside General Hospital. It covers healthcare for the entire northside area of Cape Breton. There is another hospital on the northside and that hospital is the Harbourview Veterans Hospital, this hospital also has a ward for physio and hearing and speech, but no out patients or emergency wards. The Northside General has 5 floors not including the ground floor. The hospital doesn't perform any major surgeries, but it does have an emergency room, that's not open all the time. It has scheduled closures. In that case people would have to go to the Cape Breton Regional Hospital, in SydneySydney, Nova Scotia
Sydney is a Canadian urban community in the province of Nova Scotia. It is situated on the east coast of Cape Breton Island and is administratively part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality....
.
Schools
There are two elementary schools in town, Seton Elementary and St. Joseph's Elementary. Saint Joseph's Elementary was once part of a complex which included Saint Mary's Elementary, but St. Mary's was demolished in March 2008 to make way for a new multi million dollar school, now named Fairview Elementary. There is a junior high in North Sydney and its called Thompson Jr. High. There is no high school in North Sydney. All the students attend Memorial Composite High School, in the neighboring town of Sydney Mines. Memorial is the high school for the entire Northside area.North Sydney is also host to the Maritime Drilling School. Students from all over the world attend this institution to learn how to work on oil rigs.
Exhibition
North Sydney is home to the Cape Breton County Farmer's Exhibition. Held every August, the Exhibition is quite possibly the largest tourist attraction in the town. People from all over Industrial Cape Breton attend the event, while there are exhibitors from all over the Atlantic Provinces. The main attraction, however, is not the midway with all of its rides and games, but rather the agricultural and cultrual displays. This also includes horse riding presentations such as barrel racing, skills competitions,and draft horse competitions.Started in 1916, the Exhibition started in Sydney and a few years later relocated to its present location at the top of Regent Street.
Notable people born in North Sydney
- Harold RussellHarold RussellHarold John Russell was a Canadian-American World War II veteran who became one of only two non-professional actors to win an Academy Award for acting...
, Academy Award winning actor - Bobby Smith, Retired NHLNational Hockey LeagueThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
hockey player - Flora MacDonald, Former federal cabinet minister
- Paul AndreaPaul AndreaPaul Lawrence Andrea is a former ice hockey right winger. He played in the National Hockey League for the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, California Golden Seals, and Buffalo Sabres...
, Retired NHLNational Hockey LeagueThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
hockey player
Notable connections
- Academy Award winning actors and siblings Warren BeattyWarren BeattyWarren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
and Shirley MacLaineShirley MacLaineShirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
were born to drama teacher Kathlyn Corinne who was born in North Sydney