Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia

Beinn Bhreagh in Nova Scotia

Beinn Bhreagh, generally pronounced "ben breeagh", is the name of the former estate of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, in Victoria County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It refers to a peninsula jutting into Cape Breton Island's scenic Bras d'Or Lake approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) southeast of the village of Baddeck forming the southeastern shore of Baddeck Bay.

The peninsula was known to the Mi'kmaq as "Megwatpatek", roughly translated to "Red Head" due to the reddish sandstone rocks at the tip of the peninsula. The name "Beinn Bhreagh"—meaning "Beautiful Mountain" in Scottish Gaelic is thought to have been given to the peninsula by Dr. Bell, who purchased approximately 600 acres (2.4 km²; 0.9 sq mi) to form the estate in the late 1880s.

In July 2005, the Nova Scotia Civic Address Project review changed the status of Beinn Bhreagh from a "generic locality" to a "community"; however, the former estate, which is still owned and occupied by Dr. Bell's living descendants, is not open to the public.

Alexander Graham Bell

Wealthy from his successful invention and marketing of the telephone, inventor Alexander Graham Bell and his wife Mabel undertook a cruising vacation in 1885 along the coast of eastern North America with their intended destination being Newfoundland, in order to view a mining operation that Mabel's father had invested in. Along the way, due to the accidental grounding of their passenger boat, they serendipitously discovered Cape Breton's Bras d'Or Lake and were enthralled by their surroundings.

Its landscape, climate, and Scottish traditions and culture were reminiscent of his birthplace in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Bells lived increasingly on Beinn Bhreagh from about 1888 until Dr. Bell's death in 1922, initially only in the summer and then later often year-round.

Bell constructed a laboratory on this property, where he conducted experiments in powered flight and hydrofoil technology, among many other things. Some of his most notable accomplishments at Beinn Bhreagh included the first manned flight of an airplane in the British Commonwealth (by the AEA Silver Dart) in 1909, plus the HD-4, a hydrofoil boat designed by Frederick Walker Baldwin and Dr. Bell, and built at Beinn Bhreagh. Designed as a submarine chaser and powered by aircraft engines, their vessel set a world watercraft speed record of 71 miles per hour (114 km/h) in 1919, which remained unbroken for many years.

Dr. Bell and his wife Mabel were both buried atop Beinn Bhreagh mountain, on the estate, overlooking Bras d'Or Lake. The 600 acres (2.4 km²; 0.9 sq mi) estate owned by the couple on the Beinn Bhreagh peninsula is now owned by their many descendants and is not open to the public. "The Point", Dr. and Mrs. Bell's second residence on Beinn Bhreagh, was built in 1893, and the "Lodge", his first residence, built in 1888, are visible from across the Baddeck Bay. The Alexander Graham Bell Museum, a unit of Parks Canada, containing a treasure trove of objects donated to Canada by Dr. Bell's descendants, is open to the public. The Alexander Graham Bell Museum is on the Canadian Register of Historic Places. The Museum is located across the Baddeck Bay from Beinn Bhreagh in the town of Baddeck. Unfortunately, many visitors to the Museum mistakenly believe they can get to Dr. Bell's former residence by simply driving around the Bay and onto Beinn Bhreagh Road, a long drive ending at a gate, with no view of the estate.

National Geographic Society maps

Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law, Gardiner Greene Hubbard was the first president of the National Geographic Society and Bell was its second president. Bell's son-in-law Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor ran the National Geographic Society for many years, and his grandson, Melville Bell Grosvenor, and great grandson Gilbert Melville Grosvenor were editors of the National Geographic Magazine and Presidents of the Society. Perhaps as a result, both Beinn Bhreagh or Baddeck, the nearest town, are prominently displayed in National Geographic maps of the area, despite their relatively small size.