...When All We Really Want to Do Is Save The Old Building Charles Campbell's stone face above the door of the Old Post Office, Baddeck, N.S. (Author photo) Last week we learned how businessman turned politician Charles J. Campbell was able to get a Thomas Fuller designed post office for Baddeck in 1885. By the middle of the 20 th  century, Charlie’s stone visage still looked out over the main street from the keystone above the main door, as he had for the previous 70 years.

The Baddeck Post Office & Customs House circa 1890. The familiar clock in the western eave would not be installed until 1912. (Photo: Bethune Family) 2026 will mark thirty years since the Old Post Office (then known as Grosvenor Hall) was saved from assured destruction. I watched as a member of a committee struck with a singular goal – find funding to save the building. What follows is a look at its early history. Part II, to be published in the new year will explore how t

The view from the Tarbot stage ( Photo accessed from the Tarbot Music Festival fonds at the Beaton Institute, Cape Breton University .) This is a reprint of an article first published twenty years ago in the now defunct Cape Bretoner Magazine. It is as I wrote it, without external edits, as magazines often do for space considerations.  I was fortunate to interview Leon Dubinsky and Steve Grose for this article. We’ve lost both of them in recent years.  And an update. There is