The Fortress of Louisbourg (08-17-13)

 

Constructed in the early 1700s by the French to protect the fisheries on Cape Breton, the fortress of Louisbourg was designed to protect the town from an attack by sea, because the surrounding land was so swampy, they reasoned that no one would spend the time necessary to drag weapons across the marsh.  Well, they were wrong.

  When England went to war with France in the 1700s, that’s exactly what the English did.  The one thousand French troops stationed at the fort were no match for the thousands of British troops and the small fleet of British ships that accompanied them. England easily took over the fort, and once it was captured, shipped the townspeople back to France.  When peace reigned once more, Louisbourg was given back to the French as part of the treaty.and many of the townspeople returned from France. The peace didn’t last as long as they would have liked, unfortunately, but this time, when war broke out, the French thought they were better prepared for an English invasion.  They now had several thousand troops  at the fort, and a few warships in the harbor.  Unfortunately, this time, the English arrived with more than 10,000 troops and 30 warships.  Again, Louisbourg was taken by the English.

This time the English weren’t taking any chances that the fort would fall into the hands of the French again, so they burned it to the ground.

More modern times:

The fact that no one occupied this area after the mid 1700s made it unique from an archeological standpoint. Archeologists could be pretty sure that whatever they dug up came from that time period, or perhaps from a slightly earlier period.  In the 1900s, the fort became a national historic site, and over the course of many years, the physical fort was reconstructed. Original blueprints were used, as well as the original foundation
placements.

“Trade:  I do not know why a low idea has been attached to this word; it is to the trades that we owe all things necessary for life”- Denis Diderot, French philosopher

Finding tradesmen and companies who could build the buildings, and supply things such as authentic windows was a difficult task that took many years to accomplish. The end result is a replica of a fort that looks like it’s an original fort that has been well preserved.

They even managed to find authentic 18th century lawn mowers.  These sheep are still used to “mow” lawns, and are moved around each afternoon so they can mow whichever lawn needs it the most ( we did see some evidence of modern lawnmowers though)

During the day there are several programs that take place to demonstrate various parts of life back in the mid 1700s.  From dancing to weapon shooting, you can see it all.  This demonstration taught us how townspeople would be punished for minor, and sometimes major, transgressions.  Humiliation was the key.





The weather the day we went was beautiful. Not too hot and not too cold and the sun was shining.  We were assured over and over again that that is not typical weather.  Usually it's foggy and/or rainy and cold. Yay for us!   We elected not to bring a lunch, so at noon time we headed for one of the few restaurants on site.  The one we chose serves a "poor man's lunch".  They gave us each one large spoon, no knife or fork, and one very large napkin.  We both ordered soup and meat with vegetables.  It actually was quite good. We were seated at a common table with other people, which we always enjoy.  The server had a little difficulty with the portable "witchcraft" machine that we had to slide our credit card through, but eventually it worked.