Thursday, August 7

Tour day in Louisbourg. The fortress at Louisbourg was built by the French, taken by the British a couple times and finally totally destroyed by the British. For the French it was a very important fortress for getting fish (cod) to send back to France. In its time, over 30,000,000 pounds were sent over the Atlantic for consumption by the French people. The area was totally destroyed and the building were torn down and used for construction other places in Nova Scotia. In the early 1900's it was decided by the Canadian government to restore the area as a make work project for the coal miners. When originally built, there were three copies of all the plans. These were found, along with personal notes and letters. About 20% of the original was built on the same exact sites. Tours are given explaining the houses and buildings. Some of the buildings, such as the bakery, are still producing bread products.
It is a very interesting site; you can imagine all the activites taking place and the harbour full of ships. The period year of 1740 was chosen as the active year.

In the evening we went to the local theater for a musical production of Cape Breton songs and folklore. Lots of hoots, hollering, and foot stomping, along with hand clapping took place. It was a great show!