Nova Scotia Part 2: The Fortress at Louisbourg

Saturday, July 18, Day 32

Miles to travel 193

The land of lighthouses

We were on our way to Quebec City, Quebec, and it would take us 2 overnights to get there. But first we had one more stop on Cape Breton Island—Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. In a nutshell, the Fortress of Louisbourg, a fortified town, was built in 1713 by France to defend its colonial and maritime interests in this new world of North America.   

Seal Island Bridge

We drove part of the Cabot Trail before heading to Sydney, then to Louisbourg. The Seal Island Bridge is the first major landmark that lets you know you are close. 

 


Two hours after leaving the campground, we arrived in Louisbourg. The temperature was a comfortable 77 degrees with a light breeze. We were just going to do a short day tour so we could put some miles behind us.

Classic island style home

Quiet seaside community

Harbor view of the Fortress

The Fortress of Louisbourg was a major strategic holding in the French empire, which made it a primary target for enemies of France—the British in particular. Cape Breton Island was the key to the French holdings in the new world, according to Voltaire.

Parade ground view of King's Bastion Barracks

Louisbourg was the governmental, military, and commercial center of the area that included Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island.

Conical structure is an icehouse

Dauphin Gate and Bastion

Louisbourg was the capital of the French colony of Ile Royale and was fortified on a scale that was almost unprecedented in the colonies. It was the headquarters of the French fleet and one of the 18^th century’s busiest seaports. 

Quay

The French had more that 150 cannons placed to prevent an enemy warship force from entering the harbor. The defensive barrier was nearly 2 miles long, a very formidable lethal force. It wasn’t enough.

Cannon battery from King's Bastion

Dauphin Demi-bastion

Daisy thought this picture was funny.

King's Bastion with cannon battery facing seaward

The Fortress was besieged and captured twice by the British. The first time was in 1745.  As a part of a negotiated treaty, the British gave it back to the French. In 1758 the British besieged the port again, but this time they did not give it back. In 1760, all fortifications were completely destroyed. In 1928, Louisbourg was designated a National Historic Site and reconstruction was started in 1961.

About ¼ of Louisbourg has been reconstructed to its 1744 appearance, making it the largest of its kind in North America. Daisy and I encountered guides costumed as cooks, soldiers, musicians, fishermen, and servants. 

Will they let us in?

 

Fortress engineer's cook

 

Reenactors were very knowledgeable.

Soldier here is a retired park employee

Another highlight was observing military processions, the pageantry of fifes and drums, soldiers drilling, and musket and cannon firing. 

Cannon and musket firing crew marches to the drum.

Notice only 3 discharges

Recap and fire

Fife and drum

Crews approaching cannon firing positions

Big ball\-"Fire"

Little ball-"Fire"

Marching off in the cannon smoke

 

We visited buildings of the king’s engineer, a merchant’s house, and soldiers’ barracks. 

Square headed nails

 

Engineer's parlor

Engineer's kitchen hearth

Engineer's music room with harpsichord

Animal re-enactor

Grandchamp House and Inn

Inside the Inn

We ate at one of the 18^th century period inns, where all the sassy lass servants were named Marie. With a smile they told us that they were all sisters, and the last thing they wanted to do in life was to marry a soldier.  In the 1740s, sailors, townspeople, and off-duty soldiers would come here to gamble, drink, and gossip.

Our lunch consisted of mussels, fish soup, bread and rum cake. We sat at a family-style table with Ron and Beth from Tucson, who asked us to stop by and visit them next winter. We just might do that. We also extended an invitation for them to visit our home.

I looked back....

over my shoulder as we left. I could feel the ghosts that still roamed here watching.

After a 3-hour, self-guided tour, we departed for our nightly destination. With our interest in history, we could have spent much more time at Fortress Louisbourg, and will keep that in mind for another trip.  

It was a 3½ hour scenic drive to Havre Boucher, NS and the HyClass RV campground.  

While enroute we saw a number of these structures on the roadside near the entrances of every home access road. We finally figured out what they were.

 Bins to hide your garbage containers ...

and discourage varmints.

 
This facility lay along a lake and had lots of open space for kids.   


Daisy prepared her special tuna melts with peaches and cottage cheese for dinner. 

The setting sun was spectacular.

 


Quebec City was our next destination, but we had one more night on the road before we would arrive.

Sunday, July 19, Day 33

We crossed from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick without incident.

It was raining with some fog when we got on the road. We stopped for gas in Moncton, NB and had lunch at a “Deluxe Fries” seafood place. Whole clams and fish and chips were our menu selections. They were OK but definitely not “deluxe.”   

 

We arrived at 4 pm at the Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Woodstock, NB. The first site they assigned us to was on Smores Lane, but it was as slanted as a overly toasted marshmallow, so we went back to the office and got another site close to showers and more level for easier set up. 
Spaghetti with meat sauce was our dinner on this night. 

The plus thing here was that there was WiFi and it worked right from our dinette table. We were surprised to discovered that we were right at the beginning what is called Construction Workers Holiday. It seems that in 1970, Quebec legislated an annual holiday for the construction industry, which begins each year on the second to last Sunday of July and lasts for a period of 2 weeks. It is the busiest time of year for the province's tourism industry, with a surge of up to 40% in activity at some sites. Recreation vacancies would be at a premium or scarce or both.  With the internet, Daisy was able to make reservations for two places to stay in Quebec.  In addition she also emailed our Canadian friends whom we had planned to visit and locked in our dates with them. They had been expecting us and were following our progress on Facebook. 

The next day we would have only a 2-hour drive before we would enter the primarily French speaking province of Quebec. By the way, neither one of us is fluent in French. I hope there are pictures!