HAZEL HILL – For around 80 years, the Commercial Cable building in Hazel Hill was Guysborough County’s link to the world.
Opened by the Commercial Cable Company (CCC) in 1888, the building housed copper cables that hummed and fizzed with news from both sides of the Atlantic.
The building was a vital communication link between Europe and North America. News of two World Wars, the sinking of the Titanic and countless other world events reached the other side of the pond by first coming through Hazel Hill.
The cables’ fizz may now be long silent, but on Wednesday the building’s original foundation was officially opened as an interpretive site honouring the site’s history.
The site, which preserves the footprint of the former station, features interpretive panels outlining the site’s history and its role in the development of transatlantic communications.
The site is a partnership between the Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG) and the local history groups who provided information, photographs and interviewed locals for the panels.
A good-sized crowd, including many of those involved in efforts to preserve the building and its history, were on hand to witness the opening.
Darren Bennett’s connection to the building stretches back to his childhood in Hazel Hill. He remembers playing games with a childhood friend after her family had moved into the former station. The communications station ceased operations in 1962.
“I do remember running through the halls and scrambling up and down the stairways being chased by a girl,” Bennett said at the event, adding that later in his teenage years he and his pals would sneak into the building, finding remnants of old cables and other paraphernalia.
The Hazel Hill station was promoted as being the most technologically advanced cable station of its time. Specialized workers, brought from England, were paid a handsome salary, with an entire community being built to support the workers, complete with housing, a church, a ballroom, as well as courts for tennis and cricket.
The company also spared no expense in the construction of the Commercial Cable building, with granite features, arched interior walls and doorways and mosaic tiling on the floor.
Even a teenaged Bennett recognized the beauty of the building, and he would soon turn this passion into activism. As a teenager, he pushed a cast-iron tub from Guysborough to Canso to raise awareness of the building and its history.
Bennett said the building was not only an architectural landmark and an important part of Hazel Hill’s history, but also a source of curiosity for visitors passing through.
“Growing up, the most often asked question in the summer – when I worked at the garage – the most often-asked question was ‘What’s that building?’ It just stood out,” he told The Journal.
Bennett highlighted many of the world events that passed through the station’s cables. “The station totally fed the New York Stock Exchange. It was believed that there was a dedicated line between Roosevelt and Churchill during the Second World War,” he said.
“Major news events of the world were communicated through this building. Events like the tracking of Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight and the dissemination of news related to the sinking of the Titanic and of its survivors.”
Even as Bennett’s adult life took him away from Guysborough County, his dedication to the building and its history remained deeply rooted. In the early 2000s, various community groups were formed to try and restore the building to something of its former glory.
He said he, along with a group of other community volunteers, wrote a “litany of proposals” to various levels of government to help save the building.
The group was able to secure enough funding to purchase the building, but wasn’t able to find a tenant to help with ongoing operational costs. Eventually, they returned the building back to the municipality.
The municipality eventually determined that the building was no longer safe. In a CBC News article from 2017, then-warden Vernon Pitts said the municipality had no choice but to demolish it.
“We had an engineer look at the building and he wouldn’t go inside,” he said. “It just wasn’t safe.”
In 2017, the building was demolished, leaving only the foundation.
As tough as this was for Bennett and many locals who held the building dear, he said a conversation with MODG public works director Glen Avery gave him faith that a historical site could still come to fruition.
“Glen came back with the plan that would utilize the entire foundation,” Bennett said.
In 2023, accessible walkways and a viewing platform were built by the municipality. More recently, historical panels and photographs from the building’s history were installed at the site.
Warden Long said he hopes that visitors driving along Highway 16 will stop and learn a bit about Guysborough County’s historic link to the world.
“This is just another piece of the puzzle in terms of bringing people to our municipality. It’s certainly a place to recognize and to appreciate,” Long said.
Bennett told The Journal how pleased he was at what the municipality had done with the site. He hopes that more people will now be able to learn about the history he once touched with his own hands.
“I think it’s absolutely beautiful. I can feel the history.”
