The Alexander Graham Bell Museum at Baddeck

Until Bill and Lydia told us about the Alexander Graham Bell (AGB) museum in Baddeck both Nicky and I had fondly believed that AGB had been a through and through Scotsman, inventing the telephone in a garret somewhere in Edinburgh and continuing his life of invention fuelled by porridge, haggis and good Scottish malt whisky.  Then we found out that he had moved to the USA in his early twenties, and that his work on the telephone took place in the land of Mark Twain rather than Robbie Burns.  With his patent for the telephone making him financially secure, he married an American, becoming a naturalised US citizen and, in time, they took a summer home in Baddeck which became a base for much of his later work.  It was all a bit of a shock.  So we decided that we needed to visit the museum to set ourselves straight.

The museum is set on the outskirts of Baddeck, with a view over the Lakes, and the triangle theme in the gable-end window is a nod to AGB’s work on tetrahedral box structures – for kites, planes, hydrofoils…..

AGB was born to a family of elocutionists.  He didn’t star at school but became fascinated by the subject and with learning in general during a year spent living and working with his grandfather in London.  He spent 2-3 years teaching elocution and studying in both London and Scotland until 1870 when both his brothers died of tuberculosis and his father decided that the family should move somewhere healthier.  They moved to Ontario, from where AGB moved on to a number of instructional posts in schools for the deaf in the USA.  He settled in Boston, opening his own practice to teach deaf people to speak; one of his most famous students was Helen Keller and another was Mabel Hubbard, who later became his wife.  AGB’s poor health (he had to give up teaching) and his interest in speech and the transmission of sound led to his conducting a series of experiments on the transmission of sound on telegraph wires.  The experiments led to his being issued a patent and, 3 days later, proving the concept of the telephone on 10 Mar 1876.  However, it took the much of the rest of the year before he produced a useful working telephone and a further 3 years to develop one that was practical for long distances and into which one didn’t need to shout to be heard at the receiving telephone.  Ultimately, the Bell Telephone Company made AGB a very rich man, though he gave the majority of his shares in the company to his wife on their marriage.

A replica of the Silver Dart, the first motor-powered aircraft to fly in Canada and the British Commonwealth (23 Feb 1909).  This replica also flew, on the 100^thanniversary of the flight of the original, but not with quite the same seating etc as on display in the museum, Canadian Aviation standards having improved somewhat in the intervening period!

But AGB was much more a scientist and inventor than an businessman and his scientific interests spread far and wide. The museum at Baddeck, understandably, concentrates his work on aeronautics and hydrofoils as these took place, and obviously so, in and around the lake close to Baddeck.  He was one of 5 founding members, and head of, the Aerial Experiment Association.  Together they developed box-wing kites then gliders and finally powered aircraft. The AEA’s Silver Dart made the first successful heavier than air flight in Canada and shortly thereafter the AEA was amicably wound up, with AGB wanting to move on to new experimental areas and other founding members wanting to continue working on developing aircraft.

(Top) Replica of the HD-4 hydrofoil and
(bottom) the HD-4 in action on the lake at Baddeck

AGB first investigated hydrofoils as a possible aid to help aircraft take off from water.  Following his world tour (1910-11), AGB and his assistant developed a number of proof-of-concept prototype hydrofoil boats.  These led to the development of the HD-4 which, whilst successful in terms of acceleration, stability and steering, was not that fast. In 1913, AGB hired a yacht designed to make improvements but work was halted by the beginning of WW1.  Work on HD-4 began again after the end of the war and, after fitting 2 new 350HP engines in July 1919, on 9 Sep 1919 the HD-4 set a marine world speed record of 70.86mph.  Depending on the report you read, this record either stood for 1 year or 10 years....

After taking the world marine speed record, the HD-4 was abandoned on the beach at AGB’s house near Baddeck (top right).  Many years later (mid-1950s or 60s) the vessel was recovered and is now preserved and on show in the museum

The museum gave us a fascinating insight into AGB’s life and work and it quickly became clear to us that there was so much more to him than ‘just’ the telephone.  Indeed, he resigned from the Bell Telephone Company due to the ongoing stress of having to prove his right to the patent.  Happily for him, he always kept copious notes and all his correspondence on a subject he was studying so he was successful in proving his claim.  But the breadth of his interests; in hearing, sound transmission, aircraft, hydrofoils, sheep breeding (yes, sheep breeding!) and many, many other areas made us rather wonder how he had managed to find time for it all.  After a couple of hours of reading all about it, we certainly needed to have a stop and a rest!

So we repaired to BV and enjoyed a very calm evening, with a hazy sunset, and made plans for our journey south.

Baddeck, Bras d’Or Lake, NS, Canada