“Brantford is justified in calling herself “The Telephone City,” because the Telephone originated there,” are the words Alexander Graham Bell wrote to a friend in 1916, some forty years after he had invented the device that changed the world.

The Bell Homestead, Alexander Graham Bell's home in Brantford, Ontario, Canada (Photo courtesy of Harry Zilber)

Alexander, along with his parents, moved to Canada from Scotland aged 23, beginning a new life which miraculously cured him of several ailments.

The Canadian air — along with regular commutes to Boston, where he was a university professor — must have also helped him create the telephone, in a converted carriage house at the rear of his family’s homestead.

In 1876, Bell made the first telephone call from Brantford to Mount Pleasant, 5 kilometers away, repeating the experiment extended to his homestead the next night. Ten years later, over 100,000 people in the US owned telephones, and Bell Telecom was worth millions.

Today, the Bell Homestead is open to the public and has been for over a century, painstakingly restored and staffed by actors in costume ready to show guests the life that Alexander and his wife lived.

Set on ten acres of land, visitors can explore the house or the garden, which offers stunning views overlooking the Grand River (there’s a picnic area if you want to take your own lunch) and Canada’s first business telephone office, Henderson House.