History of Baddeck

The name "Baddeck" is believed to originate from a Mi'kmaq word. One theory is that it originates from the word "Abadek" or "Abadak," which means "a portion of food set aside for someone or a sultry place," while another theory is that it originates from a word meaning "place with an island near."^[1][2][3]

Europeans discovered the inland part of Cape Breton Island during the 17th century when Jesuit missionaries from France established a settlement at nearby St. Anns in 1629. British settlement came during the 18th century after the territory was ceded by France.

In 1819, Lt. James Duffus (half pay Naval Officer), whose brother-in-law was Sir Samuel Cunard founder of the Cunard Line of steamships, founded his home on what is now known as Kidston Island—then known as Mutton Island—off the shore of present-day Baddeck.^[1] Duffus renamed the island Duke of Kent's Island, in honor of his patron.^[1] Duffus operated a mercantile business on the island, serving people from River Baddeck and Grand Narrows; customers were ferried to the island by canoe.^[1] In 1820 Duffus was appointed a magistrate and in 1826 he was granted 400 acres on the mainland.^[1] Duffus died in 1833, and his former assistants operated the business for a little over two years.^[1] In 1836 the executors of his estate in Halifax sent William Kidston to wind up his business.^[1]

Up until 1851 Baddeck was known as Little Baddeck and it was part of Cape Breton County.^[1][4] William Kidston advocated the separation of Cape Breton County.^[1] In 1851 Kidston's advocacy paid off and Victoria County was split off from Cape Breton county and Baddeck became known by its present name.^[4] Kidston also advocated for Baddeck to become the site for the new county's jail and courthouse,^[1] which happened when Baddeck was established as the shire town of the county.^[4] When Baddeck became the shire town of the county, it established a municipal council and Murdoch MacAskill became the village custos rotulorum.^[5] The Victoria County Court House was finally constructed in 1889.^[6]

Baddeck rose to fame in 1874, with the publication of Baddeck, And That Sort of Thing by American writer and associate of Mark Twain, Charles Dudley Warner. Warner had visited Baddeck the previous year with Joseph Twichell and documented the voyage in the book.^[7] Warner stayed at the Telegraph House during his visit,^[8] a hotel built in 1861 and that still operates today.^[9] Warner described Baddeck as a "clean-looking village of white wooden houses, of perhaps seven or eight hundred inhabitants".^[8] Warner attended a church service at the kirk near the water. This church would have been Knox Church, a Presbyterian church built on Bay Road in 1857.^[10] He describes the church as being similar in appearance to a New England meeting house, with a pretty wooden spire and a plain, ugly interior.

Warner also visited the county jail in Baddeck, which at the time was housing a single prisoner—a carpenter who was permitted to have a workbench and newspapers.^[8] The jail had four rooms on the ground floor and an attic with a "sleeping-room". The jailer's family was, at the time, staying in one of the empty cells.^[8] In addition to the church and jail, Warner describes Baddeck as having "very good schools" on par with those in Boston.^[8]

Other travel books followed Warner's publication. In 1885 Samuel Greene Wheeler Benjamin published The Cruise of the Alice May in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Adjacent Waters which included a description of Baddeck. According to Benjamin, Baddeck at this time consisted of highlanders—many of whom spoke only Gaelic.^[11]