Cape Breton Company Houses Exploration
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Uncovering the Sad Remnants of Cape Breton's Industrial Decline - this Emotional Short Documentary Hits a Sad Note as the Happy Homes of Cape Breton Families are Disappearing. Some have stood for over 150 years - how much longer until they are all gone? Did you grow up in one? Let me know in the comments!!
Sources
CBC.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/outhouse-property-title-registration-government-land-ownership-1.4069536
Mininghistory.ns.ca
Notyourgrandfathersmining.ca
National Trust for Canada
archive.nation...
Music
'The Things That Keep Us Here' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
'Undertow' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
‘Creative Motion’ by CO.AG Music • Creative Motion full m...
'Glow' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
Found out recently that the house explored in this vid belonged to the MacKinnon Family and Angus Young lived in the other side. This house is now an empty lot across the street from Ryan's Dairy and the Ryan's Company house on the middle block of Pellet Ave, New Waterford, circa about 1965ish. I didn't know when the video was made but there you have it.
Born and raised in the coal towns of Cape Breton. I live in the 14 yard district of New Waterford for 70 years.
In a newer home built in 1983. But I do remember those cold basturds, lol.
Nobody, other than God could make me leave. To many memories now. Thank you Brother. Be safe.
@@badnews8842 I have many fond memories in 14 yard. Lots of great friends came out of there. Thanks!
This video is so embarrassing. What a mess and dirty. Cape Bretoners are strong , beautiful people and the look of some of these houses is disgusting. The ones that can't be lived in should be tore down.
@@badnews8842my dad grew up on Arthur Street (14 yard). My cousin's now live in my grandparents house. My aunt and uncle live in half a company house on the corner of Pellatt and Duggan.
@@AbandonedCapeBretonI spent alot of time at my grandparents house in 14 yard as a child and adult. My brother lived there for a bit now two of my cousins live in the house on Arthur Street.
An international student here, find your channel like a hidden treasure. Thank you for teaching me the history of Cape Breton
Welcome to Cape Breton!
Goony goo goo.
The book "Each Man's Son" was required reading in grade 12 english class at Memorial high. It takes place in turn of the last century glace bay. It's a decent book if you're into mindless fiction and family drama. Not an insult against the book, I liked it better than any other book we read in high school, except Shakespeare plays and the romantic poets. i finished highschool in 97 haha, shit im old.
good Content man! I grew up in North Sydney but live in Florence.
Funny fact, if you live near the cliff on a numbered street in Glace Bay, it takes longer to get to reserve st than it does to get from reserve st to downtown sydney. So many stop signs in Glace Bay. East of CBU is like another planet from the Northside but I know alot of great people over there.
So true. Some days when you are in a hurry you hit every red light🧐🚦🚥
My grandmother lived in No 11 and ran a corner store there for years. The video brought great memories of my time in Sydney Mines, Sydney and New Waterford. Many of these miners homes who built basements were in order to do their own coal digging for their personal use and selling to locals at cheaper prices. Over the years there have been numerous collapsed properties do to the private mines.
This is fantastic. I know a lot of relatives, though they won't admit it, were into rum running with their fishman friends. Miners get up to all kinds of trouble. lol Collapsed buildings aren't just from private mines, the legit mines too! MacDonald Highschool sunk into the ground about 20 years ago too. Thanks for sharing.
There were many bootleg pits.
arrived in Canada in the early 80s, lived at St Anns and worked at the Lobster Galley, fished the North River and Barrachois for Salmon, hunted deer and generally loved it there, friends with the Macaskills of English Town, explored the whole area, amazing place, wish we'd never left, but that's life. thank you for the videos.
That's a beautiful area. Always loved waiting for the ferry there as a kid before going to Ingonish
Love this. Grew up in #11. My parents still live in a company house. Many in #11 are now rented by people who came here from Ontario. Another one is currently trying to be sold in Sydney for $180,000. I laughed but also scared that the person who buys it will not understand the history of them. You can't insure these any longer, and like you mentioned, drafty abd probably not up to code.
Cape breton is still very dependent on these houses to live in. They are now cheap housing to get by in.
The rooms are very tiny, you wondered how a family with 8 children made it work with 1 bathroom.
I am sure as kids my neighbors hated us, running up and down stairs constantly, you could hear it. You could also hear the music they played, and if someone got in trouble by the parents yelling..lol. But your business was your business.
There is a few houses in this video I know them. One of those houses just sold last year in #11 for 60k right across from one you were focusing on.
I believe that, if part of the house was abandoned while you lived in the other, if the abandoned side got torn down and your side was exposed, it was up to you to fix it because the houses are literally attached, from what I heard.
#11 definitely isn't the #11 I grew up in. They were halloween candy gold mines growing up, now it's all abandoned lots, burnt, or unfortunately crack dens. Not all, but alot.
Hardly any children playing now. The school in #11 burned years ago (St. Anthonys), the train doesn't go by any more at the trussel. There used to be a park in #11 as well. It's all gone.
Very sad to see the neighborhoods i grew up in or visited I dire state. There is alot of good people who deserve the world who live in these houses. Would give you the shirt off their backs to help you.
Yes, I remember a lot of good times in many of these company homes. I'm glad it brought back some memories for you.
That's all so true it's kind of sad going over there now. Not the same as when I visited there at my cousin's when I was a kid. My aunt and uncle from international street moved to birch Grove and I think my other cousin is still living on that street and his parents moved to Maxie street. They had beautiful company houses.
I was surprised to see my house at the beginning of the video, we live in the half that isn't boarded up, still an amazing place and holds up after all these years the wood furnace keeps us super warm during the winter thanks for the video, super interesting!!
My aunt lived in half of one in #2 Glace Bay.
She had it fixed up really nice heat pumps and wood stove.
Two more of my aunt's and uncles had one in #11. They were very beautiful as well depends on how you fix them up and take care of the yards.
I grew up & still live in the hub, it was surreal and great too see us & number 2(the neighbourhood beside us) mentioned things were rough, but alot of ppl are moving back, but sadly their is still alot of good company houses wasting away. appreciate it thanks!
My cousin bought a piece of land on 4th Street and is going to build there across the street from his mom's place. Yes everyone is moving home to the slower pace from the cities a bit at a time. Glace Bay seems to have the most reasonable prices lately. Be good to have some family move home.
I live in an old company house in Sydney. Its more of a foreman class as its 2 stories with 3 bedrooms upstairs. Pumped a fair bit of money into this by way of electrical, insulation, doors, windows etc so its up to code and very insurable. Up until 5 or 6 years ago these were still family homes but most are the residence of foreign students. I might add that the construction of these buildings was far superior to any thing built since the 50's as building became aimed at the cheapest rather than the bast way to build.
my father worked at sydney steel, aunt lived in a duplex in glace bay like these homes. New waterford boy over here!! cheers from cape breton!!!
Cheers!
My dad is from Arthur Street.
South Bar girl here
North Sydney local. Appreciate this video completely love this island and don’t know enough of the history. Thank you
Thank You, that was very interesting Canadian history.
0:01 That was actually my house before we moved out. A lot of memories in that place and how cozy it felt during the winter. We moved out around 2015 was left there since, nothing left was inside & I was told that the walls and floors were removed.
Thank you so much for sharing! I love stories about the abandoned places I visit. It was great to hear a final chapter for this one.
@@AbandonedCapeBreton Funny thing is, we still own the property and we still have papers for the area. Its a shame on how we left it behind for this long, I would've still like to live there for the nostalgia.
This is great work , the drone work , excellent video to the narration.This guy deserves a ton of subscribers. And informative to boot.
glad to find this channel its good to know about these places.
Glace Bay here….great video
Another great one. Keep'em coming!
I lived in a company house on Victoria Rd, across fr the coke ovens. My grandfather worked at the steel plant, as well as 5 more of my family members.
Im so glad i stumbled upon your channel....your videos are Absolutely great...cant wait to see what you put out next. Thank you.
Thanks for stopping by!
Interesting and well told/presented (imho).
Thank you.
☮
very interesting - thank you!
Some of them should have been given heritage status and looked after. The ones at the Glace Bay Miners Museum are nice, but not enough.
I agree!
Grew up in one in New Waterford Wilson Avenue it's still there with many more
Liked and shared, thank you. ❤
I live in Dominion. Some company houses are in good shape. But they are slowly disappearing. Thanks b'y.
I’m originally from South Bar and I remember those company houses. I clearly remember the stink coming from the steel plant as we drove the overpass. My uncle and aunt lived in one of those houses and as a kid I hated going there because of that horrible Steel plant. Also I remember my father had a buddy who lived on the other side of the over pass on Tuper St I think it was called, it was beside the coke ovens, what a horrible place to live. As a kid I couldn’t wait to get back to South Bar. Hope I didn’t offend anyone.
I'm very gland all the area was cleaned up. It was a health hazard to the whole island.
@ I can’t imagine what it was like to work in the steel plant or the coke ovens. Not only my father worked there but many of my uncles and even my grand father. One of my uncles had a job there wrapping pipes in asbestos and he died of cancer. I remember about ten years before he died the workers comp gave him a partial disability award because of it and the award was chump change. Horrible.
@@brianf9615 Imagine. An award for that? Terrible.
We called it the stinky bridge and plugged our noses crossing the overpass. It was nice to get back home by polar bear
@@tambourine36 So you are from South Bar?
Interesting to me, from the other side of the pond.
Would like more background information.
The one's at the Top of victoria rd were owned by managers mostly. A big reason they're falling into disrepair is because a fire bug in glace bay was setting one on fire almost every weekend about a decade ago and now it's really hard to get them insured.
I have contacts if you ever want to get into a certain place. I do not want to be in any videos but I make introductions and whatnot. My email is public and I enjoy urban exploration.
Do you explore yourself or just enjoy watching online?
@@AbandonedCapeBreton I haven't been out in a while but i always used to find strange places when going geocaching with friends years ago. i'd let them find the cache and just enjoy the hike. I've camped all over the place when i was a kid. random places all over the island.
i'm of the opinion we live in the most beautiful place in the world. purely subjective opinion though haha.
I plan to get back out soon when it warms up a bit. I dont fancy slipping in the woods with no cell signal and only a portable ham radio to call for help haha.
@@jstro-hobbytechI forgot that my mom lived in half a company house on Richmond Street for a while. Back to back to the ones on Victoria road. She did some interesting wallpaper and paint jobs inside to cover over the imperfections in the straightness of the walls. She had a way of making everything cozy.
The kitchen was huge tho and my son liked playing hockey with my brother's there when he was just a tot. Indoor hockey. Good times in grandma's kitchen ❤
@ Nothing better than memories of grandma!
As a member of the Heritage Advisory Committee within the CBRM, I am pushing for company homes to be enter as heritage sites without the restrictions that come with it. The goal is for homes to later receive the restricted designation.
That's fantastic, I hope it's successful!
@@AbandonedCapeBreton We hope. Seems the municipality is not interested so far. On side note I work with the CB Miners Museum, should come for a visit!
@@winnipeg21 Been there twice this year. :)
@@winnipeg21election looming….🤞🏻
It was always a thing with the old company houses that, if yours was on a certain side, you couldn't get a shower standing up because your roof slanted over your bathtub.
True story, I remember that well.
Hi I grew up in a duplex company house, also worked on restoring 1/2 of a house in Glace Bay for habit for humanity, have stories and picturs.
That's fantastic. What part of Glace Bay was it?
@@AbandonedCapeBreton Amelia street
As for the lack of a heritage designation, I wonder if there is local opposition. When Lunenburg was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, some locals were upset as that constrained what they could do with the exterior of their houses, e.g. no vinyl siding.
Not 100% sure. It probably has more to do with the fact that the Halicentric nature of politics in NS likely doesn't care so much about Cape Breton Company houses. I could be wrong though.
great video! i think theres a typo in the title :)
There was. Was half asleep when I uploaded. Thanks for the catch!
The one at 3:22 confuses me, the neglected side would be a threat to the side that is lived in. Could collapse and pull the entire structure down, and attracts vermin. I know the area is hard up economically. But why not try to buy out the other side and just remove it?
Yup. They really are built like two houses touching each other. Sometimes one side only would burn down. Some people have joined them and made one larger house out of both sides. A vacant side of your house fallen into disrepair does tend to attract vermin and undesirable things. I would venture to guess no one can afford to buy the other side if vacant and fix it up and just do the best they can with the side they live in. People that do usually just tear it down. Pretty sad to look at.
Inverness has some company houses too
Yes indeed. Many places do still have a few. Inverness is a great location for it. The day I had planned to go film there was done in by hail and rain, unfortunately so I didn't get to film there. It was a part of the script originally. Maybe another time. Any other interesting finds out there that you know of?
My grandfather bought his for $600 brand new and had the option of buying both sides for $900.
So... Buy one get one 1/2 off? Good deal. Of course that was a bit of money back then, I'm thinking. ;)
My wife grew up in number 2. The community next to the hub is number 2 not number 11. Number 11 is on the other side of Glace Bay.
Yes, no.2, no, 20 and the hub are basically the same place. I thought that was clear in the video. Maybe it needed a map.
@@AbandonedCapeBreton my wife says, "don't tell a person from number 2 that the hub is the same place"
@@donaldfrancissays4911 hahaha
Seems like nobody takes care of their properties there, that's a shame. This also represents NS infrastructure ei roads Healthcare education etc. it's all gone to ish.
Lots of them seem to be rented these days and not owned by those living here. And from what I hear, the mainly Ontario based landlords aren't interested in upkeep of these properties. Most of the NS owners do keep the places in good condition. I just happen to show the urban decay as that's my channel. :)
yeah i mean how do you justify buying one to put anymoney into it when the neighbor is liable to let their property go, their roof leak and their pipes burst which will in turn ruin your home... theres no reason for any of the roofs to be done separately and put a giant seam thats bound to leak down the center, or two plus colours of siding.. organize with your neighbour and get it done at once and properly
There's no basements in them I lived in one
Fricking depressive
It is to look at now, for sure. I have lots of happy times in those old homes.
referring to the houses. my dad is from the east coast and we travelled there many times. mom made a comment about they painted the houses with whatever color they had and they were painted may different colors. truth be known from my dad. these houses were navigational aids to the local fishermen. they didnt have fancy radar and loran but they knew where they were from the colors of the houses and could always find thier home port. ive been to Cape Breton many times and its true, homes are abandoned and left to rot. many people have just left and to the banks the houses and property might be worth 5000.00 given the market. its sad and a loss. government regulations on fishing havent helped and decimated the industry, that and the changes in industry demands. the expenses simply outweigh the profits and industry is no longer a lucrative endurance. in this area there really isnt any benefit to setting up industry in the area, the mines are gone, fishing is gone, tourism has moved on to bettter places. pei had a good tourism market but it became faded and has all but gone extinct. its sad to see how the east coast has fallen in all provinces, nova scotia is no longer a hot bed to visit. newfoundland is just exisiting but they are ok with that and always have been, they get by and remain strong amongst themselves. just speaking what ive seen, someone who spent a big part of his life at north rustico and cavendish.
As recent as 1963 some Capers were still digging coal illegally from holes in their back yards as well as in their basements.
The product was called bootlegged coal. An interesting video . The honey lane story was new to me but made perfect sense as a way to organize waste disposal prior to public sewer systems. Sad to see buildings decay regardless of the quality of original construction methods. Brings back memories of working in Glace Bay in early '60s and commuting from Sydney. At days end my white car was covered with black soot from the coal fired Steel Mill. Capers were great people . Always asked newbies " What's your father's name?"
to determine lineage. ( Music around 1/2 way point is very annoying! )👍👍👍🏆
Thanks for the feedback and the comment. Did you work in the mines or the steel plant? What was your father's name?
@@AbandonedCapeBreton Neither . Worked at an office job there for about a year and was not a Caper. Also recall the widely used "nick names" so locals could distinguish one John MacDonald, in the community from maybe a hundred others with the same given name.. A rich culture.
Absolutely nobody was bootlegging coal out of their basements.