The only other form of transportation was by boat. This was only possible from late spring until December because of ice. This meant people had to stock up for winter by storing bags of flour and boxes of tea.

The communities North of Smokey, such as Pleasant Bay, Ingonish, Cape North and Neil’s Harbour, were very isolated. It was not uncommon for people to die in sudden storms on the long walk to the next community. Doctors only visited from Sydney or Baddeck once in a while. There were times when no teacher would go there. The communities North of Smokey took about 20 years longer to get modern improvements such as a doctor, and telegraph and telephone service than other communities in the area.

Then, in 1927, work on the Cabot Trail started. A one-way road, from west to east, was finished by 1932. The new highway ended the isolation. It also changed the lives of people living along the Trail.

Suddenly, tourists began coming. This was especially true after the Cape Breton Highlands National Park opened in 1936. Visitors had been so rare before, that residents of the villages were happy to meet them and tell them stories of the past. Some people felt there were too many curious visitors. Residents became less friendly.

Others felt they had given up more than they received. Before the Park was opened, they had hunted and cut wood on those lands. Now they had lost those rights. Some families who had lived in the area for generations lost land to the Park. They felt they had not been fairly compensated. Many tourists wanted to go fishing with the fishermen just for the experience. The fishermen felt the tourists were a nuisance and not worth the trouble. Some people didn’t like to see their beaches and communities filled with so many strangers.

With the opening of the Cabot Trail, people and goods could now move much more easily to these northern communities. Life in these communities had changed, but not all the changes were welcomed. The changes were good or bad, depending on your point of view.