We had another enjoyable, albeit shorter, ferry ride between Newfoundland Labrador and Nova Scotia. Marine Atlantic runs a pretty tight ship and everything went according to schedule. We particularly appreciated that they loaded the ferry right after the required check-in time, two hours before sailing, at 9:45 pm. On our previous ferry trip, the longer Argentia run, they began loading one hour before sailing. Maybe because sailing was so late last night, at 11:45 pm, they loaded earlier. With the earlier loading, we were able to get to our cabin and to sleep by 11 pm, before the ship left the dock.
As soon as we arrived in North Sydney, Nova Scotia, we drove 40 minutes to Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site, on the southeast coast of Cape Breton Island. The Fortress of Louisbourg is like Old Sturbridge Village, a living history museum, where every day is 1744. The French came to Louisbourg in 1713, after ceding Acadia and Newfoundland to the British by the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht, which ended the War of the Spanish Succession. France's only remaining possessions, in what is now Atlantic Canada, were the islands of Cape Breton and Prince Edward. The French used these islands as a base to continue the lucrative cod fishery off the Grand Banks. In 1719 they began to construct, at Louisbourg, a fortified town which was completed on the eve of the first siege in 1745. The town and settlement, along the harbor shore, soon became a thriving community thanks to cod.
The cod fishery accounted for most of Cape Breton's prosperity. The main reason that cod fishing was so important for the French, and to a lesser degree to Ireland, Spain, and Portugal, was because these countries were largely Roman Catholic and over a third of the church calendar at the time called for abstinence from meat. Cod provided the meat substitute required by the church. Louisbourg became a hub of commerce, trading in manufactured goods and various materials imported from France, Quebec, the West Indies and New England.
The harbor at Louisbourg was well defended, with a small opening and a deep and wide harbor. However, the side that faced inward was vulnerable because of surrounding low hills that provided excellent locations for siege cannons.
The first siege of Louisbourg came in 1745 following declaration of war between Britain and France. Informed that the fortress was in disrepair with its poorly supplied troops on the verge of mutiny, British New Englanders mounted an assault on Louisbourg. Within 46 days the fortress was captured. To the chagrin of the New Englanders, only three years later the town was restored to the French by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. In 1758, during the French and Indian War (in Europe it was called the Seven Years War), Louisbourg was besieged a second time. Without a strong navy to patrol the sea beyond its walls, Louisbourg was impossible to defend. The British captured the fortress in seven weeks and, determined that Louisbourg would never again become a fortified French base, the British demolished the fortress walls.
For almost two centuries the site was forgotten until local citizens petitioned the Canadian Government to spend over $25 million on the reconstruction of approximately one-quarter of the original town and fortifications. Archaeological excavation of the site has yielded millions of artifacts as well as the ruins of fortifications and buildings. Some 750,000 pages of documents and 500 maps and plans have been discovered in archives in France, England, Scotland, the United States and Canada. The historical evidence reveals much about life at Louisbourg and provides an excellent base for the study of the French in North America.
We rode a shuttle bus from the Visitor Center to the Fortress. (The difference between a fort and a fortress- a fort is a military installation; a fortress includes a town within the fortified walls.) We were excited to see that the first buildings (actually outside the walls) were the homes of fishermen that had "living roofs".
We signed up for a tour and while we were waiting we talked to a Mi'kmaw Parks Canada interpreter who showed us a stone that had been carved (you have to rotate the picture one quarter turn) showing a European sailing ship, animals, and the circular carving believed to show the relationship between the various Mi'kmaw families/tribes in the Cape Breton area.
This is Bonnie MacLeod who lead us on a 60 minute tour of the Fortress. It was completely outside and she left it up to us to come back and visit the houses on our own. Of course, inside each house there were numerous costumed interpreters so we were not really on our own.
During the tour we met Lieutenant John Bradstreet. He was a captured British Officer and, as such, he had free reign to walk about Louisbourg and keep the company of the daughter of a prominent local merchant.
We also saw these villagers taking their geese out for their daily exercise. Here they are encouraging them to go back into their pen.
Inside the fortified army barracks, or Place d'Armes, there was this beautiful Military Chapel.
At 11:45 am every day there is a military parade and exercises with the infantry firing their guns and the artillery firing these two cannons - loud.
The following two pictures are for Maura.
Heritage Dorset sheep.
Geese - the same that were out walking in an earlier picture.
This is Yvan ("navy" backwards). He was in the De la Plagne House, home to a wealthy merchant, where he was working on sewing a canvas bag. Since we were asking a lot of questions he invited us to sit down and we had a long conversation about the historical occurrences in Canada at the time and particularly on Cape Breton Island. He was very informative and was wearing wooden shoes, sabots. (You remember - that's where the word "saboteur" comes from - the French workers who threw their wooden shoes into machinery in unsuccessful efforts to stop the industrial revolution.)
Attention Scott - one of the houses, the Carrerot House, had exhibits on the various housing construction and materials of the period. This is below grade and shows the original, excavated foundation of the house. Maybe you can just make out the rope in the picture, about three feet above the floor. Below the rope is the original foundation; above the rope is the reconstructed. There were also a wide variety of period tools and house fittings and hardware on display. See the trowel? There was also a "clip" that held stones together; see below.
Great stone houses. About half of the houses in Louisbourg are of stone construction.
Look Maura, a heritage duck!
Productive gardens behind the Engineer's Residence, one of the most influential and wealthy persons in town.
And here are the "clips" holding the stone steps in place.
The following pictures are for Nathan. On Monday, when we were in Port aux Basques, we visited the Train Museum and took these pictures. That evening, when we tried to load them into the blog they just wouldn't load. So we waited until we had better wifi, which is tonight.
It seems that every train in Canada that we take a picture of has a snow plow at the front.
An electric engine...
and caboose.
This train painting was on the Museum wall.
I'm sure everyone here will appreciate their pictures! Thank you!
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