August 10, 2007
North Sydney, NS
Well, I should have known that planning was an iffy exercise. We got off on schedule, but the C@P site was closed. These sites are convenient, but they’re not exactly the most reliable. It’s a good thing there was nothing critical we needed to do online!
We were aiming for Louisbourg today, and we had a nice short drive over there, about 40 miles away. The weather was beautiful, sunny with only a few clouds and temperatures around 23C/73F. Other than the fact that I forgot a hat and/or sunscreen and got too much sun, we had a pretty good time touring the historic site. There were several reenactments of “everyday life” circa 1744 held while we were there, ranging from banishing a thief to firing a cannon. They do a pretty good job of staying in character, and there are a variety of gardens and animal pens occupied.
The Louisbourg site is interesting from a historical perspective – on two different levels.
Originally settled by the French in 1713, it went back and forth between them and the British (including pre-revolution New Englanders) until the Brits leveled the place in 1760 and the area was ceded to France in 1763.
The site was essentially left until 1961, when the Canadian Government embarked on a reconstruction project. The back-story on the project is that it helped to bolster employment after the area suffered a significant economic setback as the mining industry waned. So far, they’ve restored only 20% of the original site and, like many other historical areas, new things are being uncovered by archeology teams each summer. This year, they were excavating a storage area, and found a mass grave of 43 soldiers who died of disease circa 1743 when there was a huge epidemic. The remains are being moved to a safer location for final interment, since the area being excavated is subject to erosion during winter storms. Fascinating…
Here are a few photos from today’s outing:
http://picasaweb.google.com/GeorgeandGeri/LouisbourgHistoricalSite
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