Sep 4, 2024 - Today we're driving 2.5 hrs to Louisbourg to visit the National Historic Site at the Fortress. It will be our last drive on the Cabot Trail, but we will still be in Cape Breton for another 5 days. We will stop in Sydney for a much needed trip to Walmart for groceries. The stores along the Cabot Trail are smaller shops and we need to resupply. We will stay 3 nights at Riverdale RV park in Louisbourg. Which is a 20 minute walk to the Fortress Visitors' Center.
An early morning walk from the Broad Cove campground along the river
The trail leads to the ocean
and another beautiful beach
we never seem to make the sunrise
pretty granite rocks on the beach
we have quite the firewood stash going!
the pic I took at another overlook
the pic Kevin took at the same overlook
The houses in Nova Scotia all have wooden boxes for their garbage cans because otherwise the cans will blow away, since the wind almost always blows here. They also often have lighthouse yard ornaments.
The signs in this area of Cape Breton all have the English as well as Scottish
After our trip to Walmart we stopped for beers at the Breton Brewery. We've been drinking Breton beer ever since we got to Nova Scotia and we wanted to see where it's made. We were able to bring our lunch to eat on the patio and enjoy the beautiful day.
Breton Brewing
We made it to Riverdale RV. It's a small tightly packed campground (maybe 30 sites) on the edge of the town of Louisbourg. We were the only ones here except for 2 long term trailers. After Labor Day, the season slows down quickly in Nova Scotia.
Kevin found that they had live music across the street from our campground at the North Star Resort, in their restaurant the Bothy (which means shelter in Scottish). They've collected a few crab pot floats.
The restaurant looked like it had been an old storage building and had been nicely redone. We enjoyed the music and a beer
bench and floats
Sep 5, 2024 - Today we're visiting the Fortress of Louisbourg. Our Canada Parks Passes get us in free. They take buses from the visitor center but we were able to drive directly to the Fortress which saved some steps. We signed up for a golf cart tour at 1:00 and explored until then. The French came to this part of the world in the early 1700's to fish for cod. There were over 100 days on the Catholic calendar that required them to abstain from meat, so cod was the perfect alternative. Once the cod was dried and salted, it could be stored for up to 2 years, which was quite useful in the 18th century.
pretty garden
Most buildings had interpreters dressed in costume who described for us what daily life was like. We kept running into this servant who was a hoot.
The Frederic gate that opens the Fortress to the very large harbor.
We came across a group of women who were making lace, which would have been a common past time for the wealthy women of Louisbourg.
there is a crazy amount of intricacy in making lace
look at all those pins!
The King's Bastion Barracks in the background. We stopped here and heard the story of the life of a soldier. They came here from France for a better life, but found a tough life here as well. Most never married as the soldier was low on the totem pole, and the ratio of women to men was 1:10. The building also housed the chapel, the governors residence as well as the barracks for the soldiers.
view from the wall surrounding the bastion
view of the lighthouse
The difference between a fort and a fortress, is that a fort is just a military building, but a fortress is a much larger military fortification, including a town. There were 2500-3000 people living in the Fortress of Louisbourg during its peak in the mid-1700s.
the procession to ignite the canon
Boom!
town view
the chapel in the bastion
the walk along the harbor
a Lego rendering of the fortress
The Louisbourg harbor was the 3rd largest/busiest harbor in North America in the 1700's behind Boston and Philly.
This house was across the street from our campground. We laughed about all the lobster pots in the front yard, side yards and probably the back yard.
Sep 6, 2024 - Kevin and I decided we needed a second day at the fortress, so today we took the bus from the Visitor's Center (after walking from the campground to the Visitor's Center). We were back to the campground in the early afternoon and we all walked to town to check it out and grab a treat at the bakery.
View of the harbor and Frederic gate from the water. The fortress was mostly fortified on the harborside. The rear side was a boggy area, that was not considered a threat. In 1745 the British attacked from this side and captured the fortress. It was later returned to France in 1748 and then captured again by the British colonists from New England in 1758. Once they had possession they destroyed the fortress and took pieces of it to the colonies.
In front of the Frederic gate and the iron collar used as public punishment for petty crimes
it was a quiet day at the fortress, no tour buses/cruise ships this early
I liked how this barrel was sealed at the top, with wedged pieces
This painting depicts what the harbor would have looked like in the 1700's. It was a busy place!
In 1961 the Canadian government decided to rebuild the Fortress of Louisbourg and make it a national monument. They built the fortress back at one fifth the size. They retrained out-of-work coal miners from the area and spent 26 million dollars on the reconstruction.
tools used for all the building and maintenance that would have gone on here.
We had warm bread from the bakery at the fortress for lunch, yum!
I wanted to try out these chairs that I saw everywhere, which didn't have a back. They weren't terribly comfortable, but I was told they didn't have a back to keep you warm when backed up to the fireplace.
The Dauphin gate.
waiting for the bus
the present day harbor of Louisbourg, with the fortress in the background
the Louisbourg boardwalk
fishing is still pretty important for this area
an old salty sailor
\
No comments:
Post a Comment