22 August
We had to check out of the campground well before we had to
check into the ferry, so we drove the 5km back to Placentia and took advantage
of their wifi for the price of my coffee.
We chatted with a couple who were camping in the back of their extended
bed pickup truck. They were from Prince
Edward Island and had come over to Newfoundland for two weeks. They were intrigued as to what we thought of
PEI. Afterwards we headed up to Castle
Hill, which was another French fortification that the British got control of
once the French were defeated in the 1750s.
It is a National Historical Site (NHS)with only a little
refurbishment.
The ferry left at 17:05 and since we had changed our
reservations we ended up having a 4 bunk room, even though there were just the
two of us. We had a so so all you can
eat buffet dinner, contrary to what you read on line, it was not gourmet. Neither Roger nor I slept well. Roger thinks because the beds were not “fore
and aft” so when there was rolling it just felt off to his retired Navy brain. I just didn’t sleep well because my “salty
dog” was snoring louder than usual, despite being in a separate bed.
23 August
The ferry had a relatively calm transit, despite a lot of
wind. We were off the ferry by 10:30 and
headed to Fort Louisburg.
Fort Louisburg is a reconstructed French fort. It is based on a lot of archeological digging
and research. It is another NHS. The fort’s construction started in 1720 and
was basically completed 10 years later, although buildings continued to be
added after the town of Louisburg grew.
The French Army was completely reliant on imports from France, unlike
the soldiers in Lake Champlain NY who had to fend for themselves and make their
own shoes, clothes etc. There were
several demonstrations throughout the fort, very similar to Jamestown VA. There was a lady who was making lace, a skill
that she had learned from a French neighbor.
It was taking her one hour to make half an inch of lace. She was acting like she was the lady of the
house, who had time to do such activities and servants to do the daily chores
of house keeping. The lady women at the
Fort were very genteel and did not have the typical frontier woman’s life once
a governor was sent to Fort Louisburg.
The town continued to grow after the French left, and the mainstay of
commerce was cod fishing. Back then an average
cod weighed 25 lbs, was salted and dried down to two pounds and shipped back to
France. The fish was then reconstituted to
almost 25 pounds with the addition of water.
It was very interesting listening to the guy who was acting like a
fisherman.
We are now in Antigonish NS.
Tomorrow we should be spending the night in St John New Brunswick, and
back in the USA on Sunday in Bangor Maine.
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