John Mahoney

Pea soup & Fortress Louisbourg

LOUISBOURG, NS | We did Fortress Louisbourg yesterday. Actually, in the 88 degree temperature, the fortress did us.

Louisbourg, famed the world over, is a national historic site. For 55 years, until destroyed by the British, the fortress played a major role in the development of this part of North America.

CLICK HERE FOR FORTRESS PHOTO ESSAY

There are some 25 reconstructed buildings currently open to the public, and every tourist season dozens of authentically costumed actors bring to life a typical summer day in 1744.

We all felt sorry for the young men and women playing soldier, what with the black felt tricorns and the layers of wool uniforms. One actor/animator said that during the really hot days earlier this summer, some of the young soldiers collapsed from heat exhaustion.

Starting forty years ago, the Canadian government poured millions into reconstructing Louisbourg, and archaeological excavation is still going on.

During its glory days, the fortress was home to 5000 people, and there was a fishing village of hundreds outside the walls. There were also hundreds of friendly Mi 'kmaq who, like the French, were Roman Catholic.

An armed French-speaking soldier (a woman, in our case) bars the way into the fortress at Porte Dauphine. She was making sure we weren't English spies.

A miscreant was punished in mid-afternoon -- the wretch had stolen a bottle of wine, a crime which he vigorously denied. Alas, the governor sentenced him to be chained to the carcan for two hours a day in the hot sun, for three consecutive days.

Some of the village women loudly demanded the death penalty, as he was not only a winebibber and thief, but consorted with loose women. The unrepentant prisoner allowed that he was sorry, but only for getting caught.

There's a gift shop in a reconstructed home. You can buy a genuine Louisbourg mug for only $5.95, plus tax. Made in China, of course.

Lunch: Pea soup, baked cod or meat pie, whole-grain wheat & rye bread baked in their wood-fired oven, bread pudding. Eaten from a pewter bowl with a large pewter spoon. That's the only utensil allowed.

We washed our lunch down with hot buttered rum and a dark ale, and tried not to spill any on the coarse linen tablecloth or two-foot square napkins.

Louisbourg is an easy 90-minute drive from Baddeck, over Kelly's Mountain -- elevation 250 metres.

The peak of the tourist season has passed, and the number of visitors is beginning to diminish. We start our homeward journey today with a probable stop in Antigonish -- hometown of Judy's maternal grandmother and Ross Murray, who now publishes the Stanstead Journal in Quebec.

Back in touch the next time I can log on.

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