Impressions of Cape Breton: Revised Edition
This is the first volume in the Cape Bretoniana Research Series, in partnership with the Beaton Institute at Cape Breton University.
Impressions of Cape Breton includes descriptive impressions of Cape Breton Island, by an eclectic cast of characters – from explorers to entrepreneurs, settlers to surveyors, military officers to travel writers – from the 17th to 20th centuries.
First published in 1986, now revised and with new chapters added, Brian Tennyson’s Impressions of Cape Breton gathers together descriptive impressions of Cape Breton Island, dating from 1634 to 1941, as selected by historian Brian Douglas Tennyson. Some of the impressions are overwhelmingly positive – “Sydney harbour is justly considered one of the finest ports in America” – some are harsh – “nothing but the most absolute necessity can possibly induce me to pass another year here” – and some downright amusing – “In no place of similar size in British America, will you find gentlemen possessed of more general information, or ladies of better tone and manners.”