Ft Louisbourg

I must preface that this visit had a wow effect and the effect was based on the fact that this fort is a total reconstruction starting back in 1920. In the 20's all that was available was the ruins which had been burnt and blasted to the ground, but a museum was constructed to show off archeological items retrieved from the sight. In the 60's a novel approach was undertaken to rebuild this fort to preserve history. At the time a number of coal mines closed down resulting in large numbers of unemployed miners. A greta idea was hit upon to put the unemployed miners to work reconstructing the fort. They were retrained in skills reflective of the way things were done back in the day; stone cutters, masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, all were brought onboard to rebuild this fort. What an undertaking.

This Fort, constructed by the French in the early 1700's, was totally destroyed by a second British assault in the mid 1700's as a part of the continual struggle for domination of North America. This is probably the largest reconstruction of a military complex along with a large portion of the associated town next to it. Like the Heritage Center, the Fort is populated by locals in period garb who possess a thorough knowledge of the parts they play. Put together, this was like taking a step back in time.


After leaving the visitor center, we were driven via bus out to the entrance to the fort. The first thing you see is a reconstruction of a fish house where fisherman would bring and sell their catch to the fish merchant. Here the fish are salted, dried and wrapped in oil cloth to be shipped around the world. The fishing industry was the greatest commercial enterprise from the new world.

After leaving the fish house, we had a short walk to the main gate where we were challenged by the guard. We didn't know the password so we had to promise him a bottle of rum when we came back out.

The town was quite a remarkable reconstruction. The entire waterfront district has been rebuilt creating quite the effect of travelling back to this period.

A really nice touch was the re-enactment of a daily exercise of firing the cannon and drill squad training. To hear the roar of this cannon was a blast (litterally).

I feel this is one of the neatest things I have ever seen. My regret is that I had forgotten to recharge my camera and ran out of juice half way through this place. I guess you'll just have to come up here and check it out for yourself.