Fortress Louisbourg

Saturday we went to the Fortress at Louisbourg. A fort built by the French to guard their capital city of Ile de Royale which is what they called this portion of French Canada and the port city of Louisbourg, which in the mid 18th century was the third busiest port in North America,  The cod fishing industry was more important and valuable to France than the fur trade coming out of Montreal and Quebec.  

Despite the efforts of these French soldiers, the fort was unsuccessful in each of its two efforts at holding off attackers. The English took the fort, evacuated the French back to France, then in a peace treaty gave the city back to France.  Then the British took it again. Each time by siege. A few years after the British captured the fort a second time, they brought in sappers and blew it up- leveled it-  (making it an archeologists dream.)

The rebuilt fort, and it is rebuilt— is very well done with all sorts of period re-enactors dressed as soldiers that shoot guns periodically - below.  Period re-enactors were also dressed as shop keepers, servants, tradesmen, and a whole town full of people.

they have fortress walls, gun emplacements and so on.

Throughout the town, there are craftsmen, like this guy, building a small boat -  he called it a chaloup - a French word - using period tools and methods from the early and mid 1700s.  Note the wooden shoes too.

We took the hike around the facility, to the ruins area - only 20% of the fort has been reconstructed. The fields were full of wild flowers and the sky was quite dramatic.  It it a seaport town and the ocean was to my back with this photo. Actually erosion by the sea has taken a part of the site already.

All the stuff in the various homes, offices, barracks, supply houses, shops were exact replicas from inventories and records of owners who lived in the various buildings. The French had detailed plans for the construction of the town and kept exact records on what transpired in the town as it was an important revenue source for the French Crown.

The rifles that the soldiers used were also replicas — they weighed almost 10 pounds.  The soldier let me hold it up as if I were to shoot it.  I probably would have missed what ever I would have been shooting at.