8-21-19 Louisburg

We wanted to end our day within 20-30 minutes of the location of the ferry to Newfoundland (at North Sydney) since we’re taking it to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland tomorrow morning.  Working backwards from there we decided to visit the Fortress of Louisburg (MUCH more on the fortress later)

On our way we saw our first lighthouse of the day.

We admired the lush, green, vegetation – something one does not see enough of in CO.

At our first stop of the day in Margaree we found a farmers market, but, alas it was not as fun as the Mabou farmer’s market.  We saw a soap vendor who had fashioned a soap skull- not sure why – but it was….interesting….

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The fortress of Louisburg is North America’s largest (and most expensive) historical renovation.  The town depicts French colonial life between 1713 and 1758.  Louisburg was a major fishing center that was one of the four biggest trade routes between North America and Europe.  The British finally booted the French out of Louisburg when they captured it in 1758.  The fortress was razed after that attack.  In the 1960s, archaeologists rebuilt 1/5 of the Fortress using the original plans.  At the time, there were many out of work coal miners so the Fortress reconstruction provided work for many of them.

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During the summer the Fortress has costumed interpreters and demonstrations to help people get a feel for life in the 1700s. It is really fun conversing with them.

We went to several demonstrations including a military drill.  The drill began with the military band leading the soldiers.   Tom’s great-grandfather played a fife similar to one shown here in the American Civil War. That one is proudly displayed on our kitchen wall.

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We also attended a talk about a soldier’s life.  The soldiers were brought from France and promised  9 livre/month.  After they got to Nova Scotia they were told that 7 ½ livre would be withheld each month for their room and board making their net pay 1 ½ livre– just enough to purchase 1 shoe or 1 bottle of wine per month.

We learned that if a soldier disobeyed orders he was forced to straddle this very pointy wooden house.  His legs would then have weights attached to them and he would be forced to stay on the horse for hours – experiencing great pain and certain humiliation.

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It was fun walking in the various houses and seeing people in costume.

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They had some sheep there and they were the noisiest sheep I have ever heard.  I have no idea why this group was so talkative, but they would not stop chattering.  I was amused that they had white sheep AND the proverbial black sheep.

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Speaking of black sheep. Tom hit it off with this particular woman until I stepped in and broke them up!

This photo depicts an automatic roasting spit.  The speed of the spit was regulated by the weight of the stone or stones located at the bottom left.  Pretty clever, eh? (Please note by newfound use of the Canadian “eh”)

The next demonstration we saw was dancing.  This group was the upper class so there clothing was much more sumptuous.

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Because Tom and I were enjoying the 1700s so much we decided to attend Beggar’s Banquet where we first dressed in period costume…

….and then ate lobster.

The true ham in Tom is clearly coming out on this trip because he got up during the entertainment section and sang a solo  of “Danny’s song”.  It was beautiful and I had tears in my eyes.  He also joined the main entertainment host in a rousing rendition of “Country Roads”

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