New Scotland trip 2014

[Nathan]

It was nice to see the Gaelic on the signs in North Eastern Nova Scotia and on Cape Breton Island.



Our next stop was Maryvale where our ancestors established themselves. My 3rd great grandfather, Angus "The Pioneer" McDonald from the Isle of Lewis, died in 1860 while building this house with his sons.


Inside the house with the current inhabitant and her two sisters, one of whom is the local genealogist who generously provided us with lots of information about our family. I repaid the favour as best I could by playing some music for the three sisters who were born MacDonalds but all bear different names now.



After our visit in Maryvale, we headed for Mabou, Cape Breton for a supper hour ceilidh at the famous Red Shoe pub which is owned by the Rankin Family. Chrissy Crawley and Jason Roach provided the music and they were on fire! I couldn't help but get up and step dance at one point!





After leaving the red shoe with two new CDs and a full belly, we headed a few kilometres up the road to the Glenora distillery at Glendale, Cape Breton where we enjoyed the music of Ian MacDougall and Pius MacIsaac.




There was also lots of step dancing and guest musicians including Robert Deveaux on spoons, Donald Rankin on fiddle, and more. I sat in on bodhran as well.



I was too busy partying to take more photos but we spent the night at the distillery's inn and had a great breakfast the next day!