21 Aug 2016
Return to Louisbourg

Today was a Louisbourg day. We were in just the right mood and so was A gentleman in a black surcoat and tri-cornered hat escorts a lady in a floral dress in front of a high wooden fence; a middle-class lady wearing a white apron and bonnet steps behind. French aristocrats Louisbourg.

The walled town functioned as capital of French Canada for a very short time in the mid-18th century. Then it was razed by the English and allowed to decay into an archaeological treasure.

Because Louisbourg left both an excellent documentary record and ample layers of remains for the archaeologists to dig, it could be reconstructed quite accurately, which is what has been done. Today the visitor steps back in time almost 300 years to the days of muskets and cannon and a stratified, In the foreground a rectangular stone wall indicates the location of a house not rebuilt, while half a dozen town buildings in grey and white form the background. Louisbourg houses pre-Revolutionary French society. It's one of the largest reconstructed towns in North America, and the extensive military fortress never fails to amaze and excite visitors.

The park is staffed with many (perhaps a hundred or more today?) reenactors who played the roles not just of craftsmen and servants, but also of noblemen and officers and troops of the garrison. It was the feast day of St. A drummer in red uniform leads the troops down toward the harbor for morning small arms drill and firing exercises. Military drill Louis, so there was an elaborate procession, but before it was completed we repaired to the excellent restaurant for lunch, where we talked with a Canadian Air Force officer and his two children. A graduate of the Canadian military academy, he had just been transferred to Halifax.

We enjoyed learning, among other things, that the homes of the wealthy merchants all had little cups for holy water to use before eating. Think of that! Red, white, royal blue, grey, ecru, colors, along with frilly cuffs adorn the period costumes of the reenactors at Lousbourg. Colorful costumes

We saw an escaped chicken, two gentlemen who had just finished demonstrating swordplay, a bakery, a goodly number of explanatory museum exhibits, and overheard a tour guide say that the real Louisbourg cross was on loan from Harvard University, which had kept the one captured by the Yanks.

And we had a pleasant drive to and from the fortress from Sydney.