Crossing the Barra Strait

Place Names Barra Strait Iona Peninsula Victoria County Richmond County Inverness County Cape Breton County Bras d’Or Lakes Pictou Nova Scotia Cape Breton Island Scotland Island of Barra Louisbourg Grand Narrows East Bay Sydney

The Iona Peninsula is the center of Cape Breton Island. Standing on the hill at the Nova Scotia Highland Village you can see all four counties on the island —Victoria, Inverness, Richmond and Cape Breton Counties — surrounding the beautiful Bras d’Or Lakes. The lakes are salt water and are Canada’s only inland sea. On a summer day the scene is quiet, unspoiled and unhurried. It is hard to believe that this area was filled with hustle and bustle 100 years ago.

This part of the island was settled like many other parts of Cape Breton Island. Whole communities of the highlands and islands of Scotland picked themselves up and settled here in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Many of the Scots first went to Pictou, in mainland Nova Scotia, before moving on to Cape Breton Island where they could still get land easily.