As Canada's 150th Birthday is tomorrow. The place to be in Cape Breton, in my opinion, would be The Fortress of Louisbourg. One of the first settlements and battlegrounds of our country. A fog-laden town situated in the corner of Cape Breton Island, was the site of many stories, battles and secrets. 

To reflect on this site is a fascinating passage into the looking glass of Canada's early history. 

[from the book BEYOND THE FOG, by Elaine Sawer]

Visitors to Fortress Louisbourg today are whisked by bus from the visitors centre in west Louisbourg to due west, where, like "Alice" in her wonderland adventure, they are transported back in tie to another dimension. The reconstructed fortress of old looms ahead, often shrouded in the mists and fogs that are so quintessentially LOUISBOURG, adding to the visitors surreal sense of timelessness as they stroll the streets of the town once dubbed, the "Paris of New France".

As many Canadians learn in history class, North America was a battle ground for English and French colonies.
Great Britain and France are the closest of allies now, but for countless years they were the best of enemies and fought each other bitterly for any number of reasons. One of their conflicts resulted initially from relatively minor clashes in North America.

In the middle of the eighteenth century, the French controlled vast areas of the eastern American continent that stretched from the mouth of the St. Lawrence River across the region of the Great Lakes, down the courses of the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers, as far as the outlet of the latter mighty river into the Gulf of Mexico. French forts along this frontier barred the western expansion of the English colonists. The colonies of the English king, George II, which were confined to the Atlantic coast, greatly outnumbered the colonists of France's King Louis XV.

For the history is so deep, it is every generations responsibility to remind those who might not know the true detail of our past.

"The unwarrantable proceedings of the French in the West Indies and North America since the conclusion of the Treaty of Aix la Chappelle and the usurpations and encroachments made by them upon our Territories and the settlements of our Subjects in those parts, particularly in our Province of Nova Scotia, have been so notorious and so frequent, that they cannot but be looked upon as sufficient evidence of a formed Design to promote their ambitious Views without any regard to the most solemn treaties and Engagements."

In 1748 the British made plans to build a comparable fortress to neutralize the menace of Louisbourg. The location they chose was on Chebucto Bay on a hill overlooking the harbour now known as Citadel Hill. It was named Halifax after the Earl of Halifax who had suggested its construction. Settlers from England rather than the 13 Colonies were enticed to travel to the fortified town by offers of free transportation, free food for a year and military protection. Lieutenant Colonel Edward Cornwallis was appointed governor of Nova Scotia and with 2576 settlers set sail for Halifax in 1749.

By the time this war ended, France would have lost most of her colonial empire.

Returning to modern day, the reconstructed Fortress is only 1/4th the size of what it once was,

not including the many houses and settlements across Louisbourg Harbour and Kennington Cove.

Once years past after the final assault, many families from English, Irish and Scottish decent began to live on the ruins, some bought land grants and other simply squatted their land.  When Sydney was being constructed, workers even made trips to Louisbourg to collect brick and massive stone to build some houses and churches in the North End of Sydney, such as: 

- St. Patrick's Church

- Many Houses on North End Charlotte Street

- St. George's Church

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANADA