Zodiac Attack

The first thing I had to get used to here is the name of the place. We are on Nova Scotia, on Cape Breton Island in the English-speaking part of Canada. The name of this place is Louisbourg. Those of us from North Carolina are familiar with Louisburg (pronounced Lewisburg) where the Methodist Church has a small college. The name of this place is pronounced Loo-ee-bourg, like the name of the French king for whom the town and the fort were named in the early 1700’s. The fort is a reconstruction from the 1960’s, the largest historical reconstruction in the Western Hemisphere. But the town is real, with about 800 families still living here.

In its prime in the eighteenth century, this fort held twice that number of homes, plus the storehouses, barracks and supporting buildings required for a large town. It contains beautiful examples of French architecture from the time of the French settlement. The harbor could contain 150 ships. The place must have been huge. The original wall of the fortress extended for 2.5 miles. The reconstruction, though large, extends for a few hundred yards.

Though others will visit the fort today, we chose, rather, tour the bay on a Zodiac with 7 other couples. Not only did we see the fort from the outside, we also saw gray seals and a cormorant rookery on some rocks out in the bay. The weather has calmed, so we had smooth water and temperatures around 60°. A quiet boat ride around a glassy bay is a wonderful way to start the day.Read more