Fortress of Louisbourg

The Fortress at Louisbourg

A member of my church family (thanks Lorrie Stepetic!) recommended that I not miss the Fortress at Louisbourg while in Nova Scotia, and on Cape Breton Island. She was so right – it was a fascinating place, and what really made it great was the number of interpreters in costume who were there on the day I was. I made it a point to talk to as many of them as I could, and had some great conversations!

The entrance gate.

The chapel.

Barracks -- imagine sleeping on a slant like that!

The fortress was a French stronghold in the New World in the mid-1700's and  has been restored and/or rebuilt as a national historic site. It sits on one side of a small harbor with one side going right along the water. Inside are restored/rebuilt (some of each) houses, military barracks and offices and ordnance rooms, etc. The houses were the most interesting to me, especially the ones with gardens in the back. The gardens were planted with vegetables and herbs, and as I was talking to one of the interperters, she was harvesting yellow beans and then she showed me a different kind of beet – one that is shaped more like a carrot.  She even pulled one up so I could see!

 

Beets

In another part of the garden one of the volunteer "servants" was taking a break with some stitching in a garden shed. And in the kitchen of one of the houses, two "servants" were preparing a meal and told us all about what they were cooking and how they were doing it. 

 

Cooking dinner

One of the upper class homes had several "servants" demonstrating household tasks that they would normally be occupied with on a Sunday (I was there on a Sunday), such as spinning and embroidery. These were considered leisurely tasks, not the usual laborious tasks they normally did.

 

Spinning

Later on as I was sitting on a bench resting my feet, two more interpreters came and sat down on the bench next to me. My usual question for them was something like "Where are you going?" (they were supposed to answer according to the historical time) or "What are you doing?", or my favorite one, "What do you have in your basket?"  So many great conversations started that way!  They all showed me what they were carrying, and the one interpreter was very proud to show me her sewing kit and the special needle and thread holder that someone had made for her. She also had examples of toys that children would play with (dolls, a button on a string, a wooden spinning top) that she showed us all, because by that time there was a small crowd gathered around.

 

Button game for kids

Her sewing kit!

The day was beautiful, sunny and warm, which was quite a treat as the weather has not been exactly ideal, but somehow we muddle through!

That night I went to a performance of a fiddler and a keyboardist at the local theater.  It was very scantily attended, but there was another family from Albuquerque there!  How amazing was that. Even the fiddler remarked as she was asking where folks were from. When we both said New Mexico, she asked if we knew each other and we both answered No!  Talk about a small world!