Monthly Archives: September 2011

Baird’s Tradesmen Museum

 

On Highway 7 crossing Nova Scotia from Antigonish to the Eastern Shore we decided to stop and have a look at Baird’s Tradesmen Museum.

Wheel Wright Tools

Wheel Wright Tools

What a happy finding.  This place is loaded with history and is a great place for anyone with an interest in craft, industry and how things are made.  The walls and display cases are well organized with tools from the past for trades that we may not even have now – but were mainstays in the turn of the century.  Anyone who works in wood will enjoy seeing how the tools they use today have evolved.  You have to wonder about the minds and ingenuity of the people who designed these implements.

The tools and trades are organized into categories: cobbler, cooper, farrier, blacksmith, woodturner, carpenter/joiner, leatherworker, wheelwright, typesetter, saw filer/fitter, weaving and spinning; also the tools used in farming, fishing, logging, coal mining, automotive, retail and ice industries over the past 150 years.

Kitchen implements

Kitchen implements

Our guide was Sally Baird who was a wonderful tour guide and explained the use of the different tools.  The museum started as a personal collection of Danny Baird who worked with tools himself and started collecting.  The collection grew so large they decided to open to the public.

The place is very large and has an upstairs area with a huge spinning wheel, a floor loom, a couple of printing presses.   The presses and type include the newspaper advertising from the early 1900s and will be valuable to researchers.

Outside there are wood tools and a fire engine.  Danny Baird continues to make wooden barrels and you can see the workings as well as the finished products.   You can easily spend an hour or two learning from these antique tools and machinery from vintage trades.

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More information

12455 Hwy 7, Aspen, NS
Guysborough County

Danny & Sally Baird
Phone: 902-833-2219

The museum is open daily from July 1 – Oct 1.  10AM to 5PM. Or by appointment.  Small admission fee.

Baird’s Trade Museum – Nova Scotia.com including a map on how to get there.

 

Jimtown and Ogden’s Pond

 

 

 

Marsh grasses Ogden's Pond

Marsh grasses Ogden's Pond

We have been having some beautiful weather in September – more like summer than July and August. It’s a great time to explore the outdoors. I ended up at the beach on Jimtown Road at the end of an afternoon drive. The rain clouds were building up but there was a great spotlight from the sun shining on the beach as I arrived which gave a dramatic look to Ogden’s Pond which is on your left, and the marsh grasses with the dark sky in the background.

 

Chapel

Chapel

On the side road there is a lovely white chapel in a shady and grassy area.

 

The beach has easy access and good for walking on the sand. Great place to relax and watch the waves, look for shells or skip rocks. Ogden’s Pond is great for bird watching. The water flows in to the ocean here.

 

Rainbow at Jimtown evening

Rainbow at Jimtown evening

I was lucky to catch a rainbow over the ocean with the setting sun behind me. You can see parts of Cape Breton Island from here.

 

There are lovely views of Crystal Cliffs to your left.

From Antigonish head out Route 337 on the Sunrise Trail. The turnoff is about 12KM from Antigonish – Just past Mahoneys Beach. The sign is marked as “Jimtown Road”.

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Jimtown Road – Google Maps  View Larger Map
View Larger Map
View Larger Map