Teleglobe Satellite Earth Station

Charleston, Nova Scotia

Fall 2007.

The Teleglobe Satellite Earth Station; built in 1964 at a cost of $9 000 000. Teleglobe served as a link between ground-based communications and satellite transmission.

Teleglobe also aided cross Atlantic communication in that it was part of the Early Bird Satellite program. The Early Bird Satellite program involved the launching of the Intelsat I satellite (aka Early Bird) into orbit in 1965, where it became the first satellite to permit transmission of television and telephone communication between Europe and North America.

Teleglobe was originally home to 3 satellites; but since its closure in the 1990's, two have been removed.

After reading about this place - I drove the 2 hour drive to its location. It is sort of a tricky place to find & even a more trickier to park. After parking and walking for a bit; I crossed the front gate and was onto a paved road which led into the woods.

The road meanders for about a kilometre, until you reach what used to be a security shack. From here you can see the first building; but you can also see the satellite.

I've been in enough buildings, so I made my way over to the satellite without even thinking about the decision - the satellite is definitely the highlight of this place.

(Normally I like to make these updates climax about 2/3rds of the way in - but writing around the satellite would have made this update really awkward).

The satellite is quite impressive in its size.

I stood at the base of her and stood in awe; alone, distant from civilization in this forgotten place.

Throughout the property were 3 abandoned trucks.

I spent a decent amount of time at first just wandering the grounds in awe of the satellite and savouring the location because of how much it reminded me of Detroit. Teleglobe represented a very large abandoned facility which I could just wander about.

It's not that Nova Scotia places are that secure, it's just that you don't find "Detroit-sized" abandonments at every turn...leaving me in no hurry to rush through this one.

One of the satellites was located atop that triangular thing from the last photo. After walking over there and not finding too much, I made my way back to the main building.

I moved closer to the door and found it open. A mouse scurried by and scared the daylights out of me. I'm not scared of mice, but you start to accept the state that you are the only living creature in the area - until an animal makes it presence known and reminds you that only humans have abandoned the location.

Inside of the turbine room.

The turbines were long gone, but there was plenty of turbine oil remaining.

(Side note: While you can't buy the turbines - you can buy almost everything else)

The 3rd abandoned truck.

Nothing like light-painting a photo with a point & shoot camera.

Roof holes provide some of the best and easiest shots.

Just set up the ole' tripod and you got yourself a decay photo.

The offices were simple squares with drywall for walls.

Since drywall is complete garbage against any vandalism, these rooms had all been joined through their destruction.

Looking outside, you could see the fallen satellite.

The first building I entered also contained a very large room which seemed to have held the devices which read and recorded data. This room had seen its share of vandalism as well.

Walking out the back of the first building - I found the tennis court.

I wanted to play some abandoned building tennis here with Kayla; but it may be a little cold for that in February.

(This picture is also very close to the previous view from the sale page)

Upon making my way back into the first building; I took the cozy above ground tunnel over to the second building.

The second building was far less exciting than the first though.

I'm not sure if there was a satellite located atop this building; but in the first picture it says you can see the "ten-ton Radome balloon which housed the parabolic reflector antenna."

I believe that means there was a satellite there...

I retreated back to the first building to gain the roof access which I had seen earlier.

The roof didn't vary in elevation very much; but where it did, people had conveniently placed these makeshift planks to reach other levels.

Roof access allowed me to take an even closer look at the satellite - especially where someone had cut it down.

The satellite crashing to the ground must have been a sight to see.

The roof also gave an interesting view of the above ground tunnel.

If you're keen - you might have noticed how the snow vacated in the hours I spent at Teleglobe.

Actually, I went back with the ambition of getting a nice sunset shot of the satellite; but the Nova Scotian sky wouldn't cooperate.

It did afford me some shots of the satellite and the Moon though.

Anyway, the future of Teleglobe is definitely uncertain. The location is not favourable at all and the recent sale was likely made only so that the new owners could scrap the satellites. In actuality, I can't see anything occurring at this place for a long, long time to come.

But who knows, I've been wrong before (I don't want to jinx it).

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