This is a continuation of our 2010 trip to the maritime. You may remember that I complained about the quality of the photos, but I was wrong. The reason that they appear so bad is that I copied the entire post over from my other (now dormant) blog. If you click on any of the photos you will find the original photos at a much better quality.
Louisbourg, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. 5th day, June 16th, 2010. 2,500km. ish.
I urge you, if you are in the area, go see! This place is amazing.
The Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site has more than 50 structures restored. parks Canada did a wonderful job in restoring about a quarter of this 1700s fortified settlement.
Extensive research and archaeological excavations resulted in a spectacular time travel to a 1740s French colonial town.
The town was abandoned in 1760 and is the only major colonial town that did not have a modern city built on the same location.
Walking the alleys and taking in the sights and the architecture it does feel as if we are in a very old place.
Although we say that the building were restored, they were actually all built from scratch in the footprint of the original buildings and based on research that resulted in a very authentic sense of place.
There are a few interactive experiences that you may want to take part in. With or without the costumed interpreters help.
Tony would not pose tied to a post, so I had to.
To the the left, is the semi-subterranean Ice house to keep blocks of ice cold throughout the year.
If you click on the photo below to see it in a larger format, you will see the clockwork mechanized rotisserie. It is turning the chunk of pork in front of the fire. Cool.
As this was during off-season, there weren’t too many people around. Big bonus.
Clearly, I wasn’t thinking before jumping to demonstrate this. Do you think that these latrines are still in use? Gross!
A very big stone canoe…will it float?
There is someone in this wagon. There’s got to be a plague going on again.
As we turned to leave, we took one last look at the fortress.
We drove to Dartmouth and Halifax. Fortunately, we made it there despite the GPS. The dirt road pictured below is the route that The GPS wanted to take us to Halifax. It called this the ‘Louisbourg bypass’ and we ended up at a gate of a restricted area where the road doesn’t continue for regular folks. We turned around and went the long way.
Gross on the latrines, but looks like you had a fun trip. Great history there in that quaint French colony, quite amazing.
It’s a fantastic opportunity to learn about the early European life in Canada. My post only scratches the surface.
This looks amazing! I’ve only heard about Louisbourg in school. So I loved your travelogue! Looks like a place frozen in time and glad the government has preserved it. I hope to drive the Cabot Trail one day and may swing by this area too. I think our little one will love it.
There is so much to see and do in that part of the world. I hope you get to go and take T of course!
Fortress is a great piece of Canadian history. We loved our time travel to this place when we visited. Thanks for the memories. Happy Monday. Allan
I hope to visit there again one day. My memories are a bit faded. Have a wonderful day!
During the tourist season you can actually dine on period food there. Or at least in the past you could, which was probably 15 to 20 years ago. We didn’t but you could.
That sounds cool. There was a restaurant there, but I think it was closed when we were there.
What an interesting place. It must have been a neat experience to wander through the past.
It was! I’d love to go back and visit again…
That’s pretty impressive to hear that Parks Canada restored/rebuilt more than 50 structures for this historic site. Sounds (and looks) like they did a phenomenal job. Love the picture of you tied to the post!!
Hey, maybe your next blog series will be about the National Parks and you can go visit. ALthough you are going to Pukaskwa next so I guess it is part of your grand plan already 🙂
That’s a great idea! We are planning to go out west this summer and out east in the fall. While it’s been nice exploring Ontario these past two years, we’re looking forward to having a change of scenery.
Very cool! I particularly liked the mechanized rotisserie (ingenuous for the time period) and the post. I suppose that would provide more motivation to stay in line.
Haha, it’s a very motivational ttol I suppose! I think that if I did live during those times, I would have found myself tied to the post anyway.
All magnificent but I just loved the clockwork rotisserie. I love machines and now I must write another post and it will be your fault – again.
I will carry the blame as a badge of honour 😊
I agree with you, this is a great book that I’ve had for a while. Makes a great reference source.
I’m not sure what you mean 🙂
Sorry about that. Somehow a comment I was writing on for a book review ended up here.
Haha, no worries!
Great visit. Did you guys try the monks daily bread? Delicious! With meat, sweats or just plane.
I honestly don’t remember if we did. Hey, I can barely remember what I ate yesterday, so ten years will be really pushing it 😊
Yeah! I was there! I took a train across the country from Vancouver to Halifax and took tours of historical places of interest. Thanks fort reminding me of that. Cheers.
You are most welcome! Thanks for stopping by and joining our journey. cheers to you too!
walking around such old buildings always give me a feeling of connecting with those who have come before me…
It does! It’s a different kind of immersion. More tactile.
that’s a good way of describing it…
It is a very interesting place that I enjoyed visiting.
It is! I’m glad you had a chance to visit!