Nova Scotia is one of the Maritime Provinces of Canada. As in the other provinces - except Quebec - signage is in
English and French. But here in Cape Breton, to make things more interesting, they also add Gaelic. Nova Scotia, after all, means "New Scotland."
When we came through here in 2003 we thought we had done pretty much everything you can do but for some reason we didn’t go on to
Newfoundland. Lack of time? Bad weather? So now we are back on Cape Breton, waiting for our ferry to
Newfoundland on Saturday morning. And somehow we missed the Fortress of Louisbourg.
So today we visited the Fortress at Louisbourg, Canada’s
answer to Williamsburg. It was a
major military center during the early Eighteenth Century when France and
Britain were fighting over North America.
Before the victorious British left they burned the entire town. Only the foundations remained. With the help of detailed plans that
were found in France Louisbourg has risen again. It is a wonderful recreation made even more special by the
soldiers and townspeople dressed in period costume who never, never break
character.
