August 5, 2016 "Do you want to stop anywhere on the way home?" Ryan asked me while we were driving down to the ferry that would be taking us back to Nova Scotia. "Hmmm," I was trying to think if there was anything I really wanted to see while I was up in Cape Breton. We weren't going to push up north to see any of the Cabot Trail. We'll leave that to another vacation - we were hiked out. I browsed through a guide of the island and noticed Fort Louisbourg. I had heard about it before and it sounded cool. All I knew about it was that it was some French fort from way back when. What did we have to lose?
As soon as we got off the ferry we turned our car in the direction of Fort Louisbourg and set off! I fell asleep almost instantly, as I had been doing all trip. I woke up with a jolt. "WHERE ARE WE!?" I always seem to wake up in a panic when I'm in the car. Ryan looked at me like I had several more heads than was currently occupying the top of my neck. His gaze softened, after settling down from being startled, into a loving gaze. "Almost there," he replied.
Good, I had just enough time to get excited before we would get there. I wasn't really sure what to expect. I was thinking that we would be there for no more than an hour. We would learn a little something about Canadian history and we would be on our way. We were going to be door crashers, I realized when I looked at the hours of operation. Oh well, we would be door crashers for Canadian history!
When we pulled in we passed five different parking lots. Yes, you read that correctly, five different parking lots. Okay, maybe this place was a little bit of a bigger deal than I had originally thought it was. We took a nap for a half hour in the parking lot until the place opened. When we awoke we noticed that there were a lot of people waiting in line. Best jump into line before even more people show up! We ended up getting the Discovery Pass (totally worth it, Parks Canada here we come!). We promptly boarded the Fort Louisbourg bus and we were driven the 3-4 minute drive to the fort. As soon as we pulled up I knew I was going to have fun here.
Fort Louisbourg is the type of place where people dress up in period costumes and they act like they would be if they were alive in the 1700's. It was so awesome. The majority of the town was rebuilt by the Canadian government. In order to rebuild it they needed to go through documents from the archives in Canada, the UK and France. They were only able to rebuild a small part of the town. It was easy to get a feel of what it would be like in this town while walking around.
We were able to tour some of the old buildings like military barracks, the chapel, etc. The nice people at the guard station allowed me to hold a musket! You could pay to shoot a musket, but I was just curious how heavy they were. So, they allowed me to hold one, and yes, they are heavy! We also were able to witness the firing of the musket, where the woman described to us how the gun worked, and we saw the cannons being fired! They didn't add in the same amount of gun powder as the people would normally add. This was done for safety purposes. It was still pretty cool to witness! It's crazy how much guns have changed, and how dangerous they were to the users back in the 1700s! The solider who would stuff the gun powder, paper and bullet into the gun would risk being shot by his own gun from the metal poker which he was using to ensure that everything was sitting at the bottom of the barrel before shooting! Eek!
We also learned about the punishment techniques which were used for soldiers who were not following orders. The soldiers were young boys who were living on the streets in France. They were recruited to come live in the New World where they would have clothes, be fed, be given work and get a salary! It turns out that they would be forced to pay rent for where they lived, and had to buy their uniform. They ended up with a very small salary. It was something like 1 livre per month was their take home salary. Well, the soldiers were forced to work from 4pm - 4pm once every 48 hours. Wow, did I feel grateful for unions when I heard about their working conditions! The guard station would include beds for the soldiers to "rest" on. If a soldier was found to be sleeping on the beds, or acting out in any way they would be put on the horse, pictured below.
The solider would sit on top of the horse, with muskets or lead tied to their feet. Their hands would be tied behind their backs. They would then have to sit there for however long the commanding officer wanted them to. This could be 20 minutes, 40 minutes, or an hour.
After we saw the military side of the town we headed down to see people like the blacksmith, the bakers and the homes of some of the merchants. The homes were neat to see. The blacksmiths were working on things in the same way that blacksmiths would be working back in the 1700s. It was neat to see the bellows at work. We also were able to visit the bakery and get some real bread as it was made back in the day. It was fresh and warm. We wandered around the corner and fed this crazy goat who was picky and only liked the soft inside of the bread, not the crusts. Lastly, we ended up going for lunch at the "lower class" restaurant. Everything there was eaten with a spoon, no forks or knives. We ordered veggie/pea soups to start, turkey pie/haddock and veggies, and beer to accompany our food (we needed the true experience!). We finished our meal with authentic 1700s rum (drank as a hot toddy) and a rum cake.
By the time we were done with Fort Louisbourg Ryan needed to roll me back to the car. What was originally supposed to be a one hour detour ended up being a 4 hour journey. Fort Louisbourg is a lot of fun and I'd recommend it to anyone. If you're up around the area take a look at this place - it's a lot of fun.