We left our motel at North Sydney and drove through Sydney on our way to the town of Louisbourg. This was much easier to navigate and certainly quicker than through its Australian counterparts. Our first sight in Louisbourg was the old Louisbourg Railway station which was once owned by the Sydney and Louisburg Railway to transport coal from various mines to the ports of Sydney Andrews Louisbourg.

 

An important part of the Loiusbourg harbour was its lighthouse. Besides the current light on the hill are the ruins of two previous lighthouses. One of these was Canada's first, built by the French and lit in 1734.














 

The Fortress of Louisbourg is a National Historic Site on the coast near Loiusbourg. The original settlement was founded in 1713 by the French and developed over several decades into a thriving centre for fishing and trade. Fortified against the threat of British invasion during the turbulent time of empire-building, Louisbourg was besieged twice by the British before finally being destroyed in the 1760s to prevent the town and port from being used in the future by the French. The site lay untouched until well into modern times, when archaeologists began to reconstruct the fortress as it was in the 18th century. The reconstruction project, which began in 1961, is ongoing.

Throughout the site are people in period costume who provide visitors with information about the history of the Fortress and life during those times. The visit begins at an ornate arch through which most of the people and merchandise of the colony would have passed. The gate's name honours the Minister of the Marine, Jean-Frederic Phelypeaux (yes, for you Francophones there should be a lot of acute accents in this name but my keyboard is English only). The construction of the gate in 1742 completed Loiusbourg's fortifications.



Walking along wharf leads to the Dauphin Demi-Bastion (Semi-Circular Battery) which forms part of the Fortress's defence system. The cannons are reproductions of French guns that fired round iron balls each weighing almost 12 kg.



The Dauphin Gate houses a drawbridge across a moat and the guardhouse located nearby has all the amenities needed by the soldiers: the latrine has two seats next to each other to enable the occupants to discuss important affairs of state.

 














Further back from the fortifications is a large building that housed the Governor's Apartments, the Military Chapel and King's Bastion Barracks. Most of the governors who lived here were naval officers, more knowledgeable in military affairs than in government. A bit like our Governors-General in Australia today. Their lives were a little more lavish than the 500 soldiers who resided in the barracks nearby. Service men were housed in small rooms, 12 to 16 per room and two per bunk. There were no mess halls and the men cooked, ate, drank and smoked in their room. The military chapel also served as a parish church to the civilian population since a community church was never built. We spoke to a "French soldier", who lives in the town of Louisbourg, about the great weather we were enjoying. She (Who knew the French were so enlightened regarding gender equality in ancient times?) pointed out that the area normally experienced thick fogs that lasted well into the day or gale-force winds or rain. Little did we realise how the weather was about to change for the worse.


 
A number of sentries that were supposed to be posted around the Barracks to assist us tourists were sheltering from the heat in the nearby Guardhouse. Typical French wimps who don't know what real heat is. The Guardhouse was an area where soldiers mustered for guard changes.

 

While unmarried officers lived in a section of the building near the Governor's Apartments, married officers lived in their own homes within the town.

 

We could have spent more time here, as the history of the Fortress and town is very interesting. However, we planned to arrive on Prince Edward Island tomorrow so we set off to our next overnight stop at Truro in Nova Scotia before crossing to the Island over the Confederation Bridge. The 12.9 km bridge is the longest in the world and spans the Abegweit Passage of Northumberland Strait. It links the provinces of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. It took four years to construct at a total cost of one billion dollars and was opened to traffic on 31 May 1997. Certainly a magnificent engineering feat. One could opine that if the ACT government was in charge the bridge would still be under construction.