Planning a trip through Atlantic Canada is tough; there are many places to see, but no one route connecting them in a logical way.  Deciding whether to drive, drive-and-ferry, or fly between locations makes it even more of a challenge.  For the Maritimes, I decided to fly into Halifax, rent a car, and drive (not ferry) everywhere - up to New Brunswick, over to Prince Edward Island, down to Cape Breton, and finally back over to Halifax to fly to Newfoundland.  So despite the ordering of these web pages, my visit to Cape Breton came much later in the trip.  Above, morning at the harbor in Baddeck, in the middle of Cape Breton.

At sunset near the harbor in Baddeck.  Despite the lighthouse, the town is not on the seacoast, but along the coast of an inland waterway of the Atlantic, the huge Bras d'Or Lake, which nearly cuts Cape Breton in two.  Though the main reason to stay in Baddeck is the central location that puts it within striking distance of Cape Breton’s major sights, the friendly town does have some excellent views, good restaurants - and a gift shop of note, the Blue Heron, which has the best selection of CDs from local artists in this music-rich region.  There’s nothing quite like driving the Cabot Trail and enjoying the coastal scenery with the latest Celtic Colours Festival CD playing in the background.

Morning near the harbor in Baddeck, with a fog bank rolling in.

The Keltic Lodge, along the Cabot Trail near Ingonish, in the northern region of Cape Breton.  The Cabot Trail is a very pretty drive that loops from Baddeck up along the east coast of Cape Breton’s northern arm through Ingonish and back down the west coast, a twisting road with steep climbs and plenty of pull-offs along the way to take in the views. 

The lodge, on a thin peninsula jutting east from the trail, has remarkable views both north and south.  This is the view from out back of the lodge, looking north.  Lunch here was great; I wouldn’t have minded staying here a few days.

Scenery along the Cabot Trail’s east coast...

...and along the west coast near Chéticamp late in the day.

St. Pierre Catholic Church in Chéticamp, with an unusual shiny silver steeple.  Beneath the Canadian flag flies the flag of the Acadians, the French-speaking people who settled in this region after being expelled from other parts of Nova Scotia by the British long ago.

The Cabot Trail south of Chéticamp.  The trail makes for a great day drive and no doubt gives some of the most dramatic views of the Atlantic Ocean from North America, but guide books set expectations too high by comparing the scenery with that of Big Sur in California.  What makes the drive interesting is stopping to appreciate a little of the culture along the way, from Scottish tartans at the Gaelic College on the east coast to hooked rugs in French-speaking Chéticamp on the west coast.  You don’t get that in central California.

Another great day trip from Baddeck is over to the Fortress at Louisbourg, where I visited the following day.  This is the Dauphin Gate, the main entryway for tourists into the fortress.  The elaborate seal over the entryway, a limestone carving, is that of Louis XV of France, who became king shortly after Louis XIV had this place built, in 1713.

At that time, the British and French had been fighting for dominance in the Atlantic Canada for quite some time.  A peace treaty pushed France out of much of the territory, with one of the places left to them being Cape Breton.  (The other was Prince Edward Island, appearing on upcoming pages.)  To hold onto what territory they had left, the French built up this strategic location on the east coast of Cape Breton.  It started as a fishing village and then became a major trade port connecting France with its colonies.  Most of the people of Louisbourg lived within the walls of this fortified village.

As Louisbourg became a major trade port and its cod fishing proved profitable, the population jumped from around 150 at its creation to around four thousand some decades later.  The town’s success and unusually elaborate defenses drew the interest and the concern of the British, including those in America.

In 1745, the Fortress at Louisbourg was attacked and defeated - by Americans.  New Englanders laid siege to the fortress, and the result was America’s first major military victory.  The British gave Louisbourg back to the French a few years later, which did not make Americans happy.  The entire incident gave Americans one more grievance against Britain as well as the confidence to do something about it some thirty years later.  Shown here is the interior of the King’s Storehouse.

The French and the British weren’t quite done with each other yet.  They had another war in the mid-1750s, which led to a siege of Louisbourg involving tens of thousands of soldiers.  Once again the French were defeated.  This time the British did not give Louisbourg back to the French; instead, they sent its citizens back to France and destroyed the entire fortification.  The French empire in North America soon ended, and the fortress lay in ruins for two centuries.

Oddly, it was an American organization that first commemorated the Fortress at Louisbourg, on the 150th anniversary of its 1745 siege.  Canada recognized it as a historic site in 1928 and a historic park a dozen years later.  In 1961, the Canadian government decided to recreate part of the fortress - partly to fulfill increasing interest of Canadians in their heritage, partly to give work to the many unemployed workers in the nearby city of Sydney.

The village was restored to look as it did just before it was invaded and defeated in 1745.  When possible, parts of the original walls were used in creating the reproduction.  Construction completed in 1982; at that point, nearly a quarter of the original village structures had been recreated, on their original foundations.

Plans for Louisbourg, from 1742, on a desk inside the engineer’s property, one of the village structures.  Some five hundred such maps and plans, discovered by researchers, were important to the recreation of the Fortress of Louisbourg.

The King’s Bastion barracks, originally one of the largest buildings in North America.  Quarters for the governor, officers and five hundred soldiers were here, along with a chapel and a prison.  Needless to say from this photograph, the weather was not very cooperative; it rained on and off throughout the day, which I was told is quite common here.

Though the original inhabitants of Louisbourg were relocated from a French settlement in Newfoundland, many immigrated from Normandy and Brittany in France, and they brought some of their architecture with them.

A musket drill, in the courtyard of the King’s Bastion.  A cannon is fired here as well, reminiscent of the noonday gun firing at the Halifax Citadel.  Though the restoration may be done, the work here is ongoing: at the time of my visit, an archaeological dig just over a mile from the fortress had recently revealed many centuries-old remains, and archaeologists were brushing them down on this day.

A final look at one of the Louisbourg façades.  Even though the Fortress of Louisbourg may look out of the way on a map - it’s over an hour’s drive from Baddeck - it is most definitely worth the trip.  I mentioned earlier that comparing the Cabot Trail scenery to Big Sur is a bit unfair; the Fortress of Louisbourg, on the other hand, compares quite favorably with another big open air museum, Colonial Williamsburg.