Our entire day of Monday, August 6th was spent touring the Louisbourg Fortress. Unfortunately, it was a very foggy day with on and off drizzles. We are not going to complain after all, we've had some awesome weather for most of our trip.
Dozens of costumed animators become the town's residents of the summer of 1744. Period homes, exhibits and theme centres line the central streets of Rue Toulouse and Rue Royale, as well as along the busy waterfront. Men, women and children enact the full range of society from the leisurely activities of the rich to the hard physical labour of the poor. We saw engineers, musicians, soldiers, merchants, street vendors, bakers, servants and fishermen. The "residents" were happy to show us nailmaking, cooking, sewing, gardening, animal care etc.
Only 25% of the Fortress has been rebuilt according to all the blueprints and plans that were available to them. Due to the cost of maintaining all the buildings, they will not, at this time, build any more of the city. Now, there are over 50 buildings covering 12 acres. In its time, it was the busiest harbour in North America and a key to France's trade and military strength in the New World.
These are some of the 50 buildings. A lot of them are now used for restaurants, shops and museums but some are still in use by the blacksmith, storehouse, bakery, powder magazine, etc. The bottom right was the largest building in North America in the l700's. You are only seeing half of it. The yellow one was built by the Governor.
As we walked and toured, we were able to talk to the animators. They did a great job especially the guards. Very knowledgeable no matter what they did.
In every village, you will have animals and these were just a delight. The caretaker actually taught the geese to walk with him as well as the turkey. They walked in the midst of us and weren't bothered at all. There were also sheep and goats.
These were a couple of the gateways leading into the Fortress. The yellow or Frederic Gate lead to the harbour and the stone one or Dauphin Gate was the entrance at ground level. The clock above only had one hand for the hour. They didn't care about minutes or seconds. The Louisbourg Cross is a reproduction of one taken by new Englanders after the siege of l745. The cross ended up at Harvard University and in l995 they returned it as a long-term loan. That one is behind glass.
We had lunch where the commoners ate. We were given bibs since it was more difficult to launder clothes vs bibs. We had stew, soup, bread and tea. Very good I must say! Lot of gardens - both floral and vegetable. I also got a lesson in Bobbin Lace. I thought Tiny was going to beat me up for not listening and doing it correctly; however, I finally got the knack and actually did one row. This was only done by royalty and the rich as it took time and was delicate work. After all, they had nothing to do as it was all done for them.
The military performed for us by marching, shooting guns as well as canons. Some of the pictures look hazy but that was because of the heavy fog - sorry.
We saw a huge variety of rooms from the storage rooms of barrels (where clothes and food were stored for the military) to dining and living rooms of the commoners to the beautiful bedroom of the Governor and the Military Chapel. The two rooms on the left were both in the largest building as well as rooms for the King's Bastion Barracks which looked out onto the parade grounds.
Picture of the Day!
This is a model of a French 74-Gun Warship.
This class of warship became the standard battleship
for the rest of the l8th century. In l758, three were sunk in the harbour
while defending Louisbourg during the second siege.
I just thought it was such a remarkable model and took someone a lot of time to complete with such detail.
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