Today we left the Walmart of Sydney and drove south to visit Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Park.  This area was settled in 1713 by the French, and the fortress was mostly complete by 1740.  The English captured the fort in 1745, returned it to the French via treaty in 1748, then captured it again in 1758 and destroyed the fort shortly thereafter.  The fortress and town were partially reconstructed in the 1960s and 1970s by unemployed coal miners.  To visit the fortress, we parked at the visitor center and took the shuttle bus to the fort site: 

Outside the walls:

The town, only 25% reconstructed, is sizeable:

The great guns defending the harbor.  This led the British to attack over land in both 1745 and 1758:

Exercising the great guns:

We first toured the Governor’s house:

Artifacts found here during reconstruction:

The Governor’s house and main barracks for the town:

Testing out the barracks beds:

Model of the town:

Looking out over the bay at the Louisbourg Lighthouse:

Practicing writing with quills:

Lace making apparatus:

Several buildings were mini-visitor centers, focusing on various aspects of fortress construction, history, etc.  This is a model of one of the three French Ships of the Line sunk in Louisbourg harbor during the siege of 1758:

The forge:

Bringing a criminal to justice:

Reading the charges:

The powder magazine:

The kids completed their Parks Canada Xplorers workbooks and received their tags:

From the fort, we drove back to Sydney to overnight at the Walmart of Grand Lake Road, Nova Scotia.  Good Shabbos from Sydney, Nova Scotia!

See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.