Fortress Louisburg & Glace Bay, Nova Scotia

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June 18, Friday

The Mountain Vista Campground was a disappointment. Here the man has three concerns …his puffin boat tour, his cottages, and then his camp sites. He admitted that the puffin tours are on the top of his list. The condition and general presentation of the washrooms attest to that.

The toilet doors do not close. The plastic roof is covered in years of dead insects. The shower needs twenty-five cents for five minutes of water. There was a pile of dog poop beside one the rusted washing machine tubs that serve as fire pits. The grass needed cutting and no one had used a whipper snapper because even longer grass hugged all the intrusions in the ‘lawn’. Fresh paint was needed everywhere.

This man’s father came from Holland in 1972 with seven children. The puffin tours have enjoyed three generations of skippers. A three hour tour costs $45 and leaves at ten o’clock.

I left for Louisburg, a fortress that had been part of my English History education for forever in grade school … every second year we learned about English History. Today was the day to see what all the hoopla was about.

Louisburg is the largest reconstruction project in North America … is this an exaggeration? Definitely my tax dollars helped pay for it since it is under Parks Canada jurisdiction.

The place is big, impressive, interesting, crammed with historical facts and full of evidence that even in 1746 the rich were rich and the poor suffered. Louisburg is a fortress which means a garrison existed alongside the village that was built inside the pentagon shaped wall. It is not a fort where only a garrison would find place inside the walls...

Luck was on the side of all visitors this day. June being Aboriginal Month (????) a special drumming presentation was happening inside the Fortress. For this occasion numerous buildings had been opened. The official opening for Louisburg is not until July 1.

Paintings, maps, decrees, furniture, metal pots, ceramic bowls, pewter dishes, woven linens, woollen blankets, heavy damask curtains, carved staircases, open hearth chimneys, barrels and bundles for transport of goods, original stone foundations, wattle fences, hand drawn house identifications, hand hewn slate rooves, turkeys, geese chickens, a loud cockerel and persons dressed in period costumes all add to the atmosphere of village life in 1746.

Pea soup, in pewter bowl to be eaten with pewter spoon while a huge white linen bib was tied about the neck, all added to the feeling of authenticity. Did have to ask about the lead content of the table ware and was assured no lead was present. The server did know that in the 1700 lead was used in the white face powder women applied to look more beautiful. Under the white cake holes appeared in the skin. The light lunch of soup, bread and Louisburg rum cake with coffee was good and not cheap.

After lunch it was shocking to step thru an iron hinged door and find a flush toilet and Dyson hand dryer.

The time allotment for the Fortress was surpassed by an hour. The bakery, where the good bread eaten with the pea soup could be bought, was not found.

Once the shuttle bus came and brought its passengers back to the entrance of the Louisburg site haste was made to visit the next attraction of the day … Glace Bay Miners’ Museum.

The drive thru the town of Louisburg was much different from the morning pass thru. All the street sale tables were gone. What remained were quaint and very liveable house, colourful B&B’s, commercial enterprises, and the ever present gift shops.

Glace Bay sits on water … surprise! It was home to a huge coal mining industry all of which has now faded into the mists of the past. In 1967 in honour of Canada’s Centennial it was decided to build The Glace Bay Miners’ Museum. The building now standing in Glace Bay has replaced the Museum that burned down in 1982.

Going into the museum the exhibits relate the history of coal mining. The big adventure begins when, escorted by a former coal miner, the group of 17 descends 60 feet down into a staged coal mine that has all the features of a real coal mine. Actual coal mines went down 2700 feet and up to nine miles out under the sea following the coal seam. And the coal exists because in primordial time before continental drift and tectonic rearrangements of the land surfaces, tropical vegetation grew, was compressed and was forced into the coal found here in Cape Breton.

The tour guide, Wish Donovan, is seventy two years old, worked 35 years in coal, has only 30% use of his lungs, is waiting for a hip replacement, walks with a cane and is a fantastic storyteller. His account of what goes on in a coal mine was riveting. He told of the freezing cold in winter, the constant stooping while heaving twenty five pound loads on a shovel into a ‘car’ that holds 2000 tons, the plight of the pit ponies, the dangers of gas and dead canaries, the scores of ever present rats waiting for lunch leavings, the dismal pay, the hours of work that went without pay, the debt incurred to the company store and the tragic deaths of many men in mine explosions.

Miner were paid for the coal that came out of the mine in the coal cars. Four hours of preparatory work was not considered work to be paid. Pay was so meagre that many hands were needed for a family to survive. Parents forged birth dates so a boy child would be eight years old going to bed and thirteen years old in the morning. Forty cents per ton of coal would buy twenty pounds of potatoes. On an average day a man could shovel ten tons of coal for a wage of four dollars. Add to this his debt at the company store and the man was on a never ending treadmill of work and debt. Some people today are in a similar black hole with credit card debt ... no pun intended ...LOL

Coal mining methods … go to http://ezinearticles.com/?3-Methods-of-Coal-Mining&id=2607972 for the scoop!

Outside the museum four huts stand displaying the company store, a company house and the pit pony hut. The forth building is a small restaurant. The three exhibit huts are still closed. Seems once again all things begin in July when school ends. Notices are also everywhere for special Canada Day Events.

Wonder where we will be …Miles, the co-pilot,his friend and Me(I).

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Photos

Cod Fisher's Home
Here the men slept ate and stored their fish until it was time to return to France with their seasons catch. The tatch roof and stone hearth made living a bit less harsh. Cod were caught one at a time ...the expression hook,line & sinker comes from this method

Hooks, lead sinkers, wood square upon which to wind the line
The hooks, lead sinkers and wood square upon which to wind the line. One cod could weigh more than 25 pounds.

Barrel Closure
The little slats move and secure the top of the barrel keeping the contents safe.

Louisburg Cross
The fleur de lis is from French times ... they built Louisburg ... the English captured and kept it. Parks Canada reconstructed it. The cross is still ever present.

A Crossed View
Thru paned glass a view of the Fortress Buildings. Some inhabitants of this Garrison town lived very high on the hog.

Slate Tiles
These tiles have been hewn by Portuguese craftsmen who were hoired by Parks Canada to provide roofing for bigger buildings at Louisburg.

Slate with Holes
Each slate tile has two holes and these tiles are hung on hooks as they cover the roof.

Overview of Louisburg
This is a 1982 interpretation of life inside the walls of Louisburg by

1746 Period Dress
The man has made his clothing, put together a kit to create a firing musket and present a sunny disposition as he lives the history of the Fortress for the summer.

Bib-ing My Time at Table
he big bibs must have been a necessity because the 1700 closet had no quick dry clothes nor easy laundromats. Uniformd and silk dresses had to be kept food free.

King of the Roost
Families lived in the Fortress some with as many as nine children. Turkeys, geese, chickens and probably cows,sheep and goats were also kept.
Reference picture of Louisburg Overview.

THe Miners'Museum in Glace Bay, Cape Breton, N.S.
It is not a pretty building but then again coal mining is not pretty and less than anything I would ever want to engage in.

Centenial Project
What did we do in Sudbury, Ontario? ... help with info... please!

Walking into a Coal Mine
With my hardhat on I could barely stand straight inside the mine shaft.

Thirty-five Year Veteran
THe people in the group complained of back pain after a half hour in thr mine ... imagine 12hr shifts, six days a week for 35 years!!