Today we spent 5 hours at the Fortress of Louisbourg on the far north east side of Nova Scotia. What an interesting place! At one time it was a large fenced city of approximately 3,000 people, initially mostly military, that started in the early 1700's. It became a large fishing community that traded with communities from the Caribbean, New England and surrounding areas. Even though it was originally French, there were inhabitants from a wide variety of cultures and origins. We were told that it was such a busy harbour that at times as many as 100 sailing ships would be anchored in the harbour. It changed hands several times throughout the several wars and skirmishes over the centuries. It was French, English, French and in the end Canadian.
The Canadian government recreated the site back in the 1960's, with the assistance of France who provided a wide variety of documents. The construction plans of all buildings at the site had to be approved by the French government, and amazingly they still retained those records some 300 years later.
There were a number of employees who walked around in period costumes and answered questions as if you were talking to one of the inhabitants from centuries ago. In one building they actually made bread using methods from the period, and you could purchase samples. We bought a large roll of whole wheat bread which was very heavy and filling.
Afterwards we stopped by the Louisburg lighthouse, which is the oldest lighthouse in Canada. The original foundation of the first lighthouse still remains, but it has since been replaced a couple of times and is now an automated system.
After visiting Louisburg, we headed back to our campground, but made a short side trip to Glace Bay Nova Scotia to visit the Marconi site of the original radio transmission from across the Atlantic. There is a Parks Canada building there, but it was all boarded up and all of the signs have been removed along the pathway near the building. I don't know if this was because of the recent hurricane that went through the area, but it was rather disappointing to see the area in such disrepair. I would think that a site of such significance would be treated with greater respect.
