Day 77 Visit Louisbourg and Marconi Nat’l Historic Sites

Sun., Aug.4

Visit Louisbourg and Marconi Nat’l Historic Sites

Arriving at Fortress of Louisbourg Nat’l historic site and there is a lineup to get in. Louisbourg is celebrating its 300^th anniversary. Good thing we have our park passes, to the front of the line we go.  Passbook stamped and through to the waiting buses (a 5 minute ride to the site).  For $5 we took a walking guided tour at 10:30 for an hour describing the site and history of what happened here.  Our tour guide Shirley was excellent.  She loves her job!!

Guard at gate waits for password for entry

At noon there was a parade of drummers and the soldiers in procession demonstrated the loading and firing of their weapons.  Then marching with the drummers to the wall where the muskets were loaded and fired again then the cannon was fired.



We walked around the site exploring the different buildings with people in period costume.  There are two small restaurants and a little coffee shop on site.  A soldier’s ration included one loaf of bread every 4 days.  The loaf weighed 6 lbs. And after the first day it was a rock!  We bought some buns that were made the same basic way, good fresh but eaten a few hours later hard as rock.   They had a mock public punishment where someone caught stealing would be chained to a post in the town square for 3 hours. The site that was reconstructed is only about 1/5 of the original size and had about 3000 residents living in and around the fortress.

 

Across the bay is the Louisbourg Lighthouse, the first lighthouse built in what is now Canada.  The original lighthouse is gone and the fourth one is on site now. You can tell where the previous lighthouses were, their base is all that remains.  Next we drove to Glace Bay where Marconi sent the first wireless signal across the Atlantic Dec. 15, 1902.

 

We stopped in Sydney for dinner.  Driving down along the water front we found a great restaurant and pub, Governors Pub and Eatery.  Across the street is their convention centre and a giant violin out front.

Daily Stats: 
Today's distance:  85 km 
Weather:  Sunshine with clouds and wind; High: 25 degrees; Lo: 20 degrees
Diesel Price:  $1.364
Campsite:  Arm of Gold Campsite & RV Park
Walking:  8 km
Today’s News:  5.7 mag. earthquake on Vancouver Island region!!