New France

July 27, 2013

Louisbourg, Nova Scotia

We went to the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site.

From 1713 to 1768 the fortified port of Louisbourg was struggled for by France and Great Britain. It was a center of fishery and trade, colonial capitol and fortified port.

The place was eventually destroyed and sat in ruins for over 200 years until the Canadian government chose to build a one-quarter partial reconstruction of this 18th-century French fortress on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

The work required an interdisciplinary effort by archaeologists, historians, engineers, and architects. The reconstruction was aided by unemployed coal miners from the industrial Cape Breton area, many of whom learned French masonry techniques from the 18th century and other skills to create an accurate replica. Where possible, many of the original stones were used in the reconstruction.

We came here on the first Cultural Fete weekend to enjoy the special activities.

Ile Royale formed part of the larger colony of New France.

These people are waiting for the opening ceremony as they stand near the King's Bastion which houses the Governor's apartment, chapel, and military quarters.

Opening Ceremonies began with shooting off cannons into the fog.

Inside the King's Bastion is the Chapel and governor's apartment.

The local governor in Louisbourg was subservient to the governor-general of New France; however the difficulties of travel and communication meant that Ile Royale's governor usually corresponded directly with his superior in France, the Minister of the Marine.

French King Louis XV's portrait hangs in the room where justice is served.

On a partition in each room of the governor's apartment are several telephones for tourists. I pick up the phone and listen to a short description of the facts of the scene in either French or English.
It is weird to walk into a room where many silent people are standing holding a phone to the ear.

This is the governor's bed and favorite chair.

Public humiliation is for the thief who stole the wine, performed convincingly by resident thespians.

The French Official reads the charges and then asks the crowd what punishment fits the crime. One response is "Off with his head". Another is "Give him the wine and let him go home." Everyone laughs at this.

The costumes and improvisation are living history and educate about living in French Louisbourg in 1744, a year before the British capture the place.

The man on the right is Il Nu, which in Canada means First Nation people. He told me that his job was a scout; he wore leather shoes but described how he only wore moccasins in the forest in 1744 so that that he would not be tracked.

In the Grandchamp restaurant I had homemade vegetable soup in a pewter dish with one huge serving spoon to eat, and a big white dish towel to tie around my neck.

Eighteenth century restaurant.

We saw an upper class dance rehearsal. About 100 people in 1744 Louisbourg were upper class and copied the fashions in Versailles. Every year six or seven new dances had to be taught by the Dancing Master. If a Lady could not be present at the rehearsal, a servant maid could take her place.

On the harpsichord this music is played. The contradance moves are described. The style of dance is more like country dance today, sedate and designed to socialize. By the end of the one dance each person has danced with all the other dancers and has had a chance to converse.

In this fisherman's hut the servants work the woven cloth while they sing a milling song; this is done to pass the time as they make the woven wool tighter and more supple. They push it back and forth in a quick rhythm on the table.

After the milling song demonstration the fisherman welcomed us. Louisbourg was a popular port, and was the third busiest only behind Boston, Massachusetts, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was also popular for its exporting of fish, and other products made from fish, such as cod-liver oil.

The fishing industry was three times greater than the fur trade in 1744. The North Atlantic fishing trade employed over ten thousand people, and Louisbourg was seen as the ‘nursery for seamen.’

There are 150 volunteer actors in Louisbourg this weekend who mostly stay in character for 1744. One asked me where I was from and I answered California. He said, "Where's that?" When I tried to explain, he said " Oh it must be that Spanish Colony."

These resident musicians from St Johns, New Brunswick, specialize in early music and are preparing for a concert Saturday night. We are invited to listen and ask questions during the rehearsal.

In early times one might own 30 recorders, each in a different key. This recorder is down a semi-tone and won't sound good played with a piano. A= 412, not A=440.

This beautiful sounding portable harpsichord has a simple plucking system.

A model of a French 74 - gun warship was on display, scale 1/36.

This ship was developed by French Naval architects in 1737 and this class of warship became the standard battleship for the rest of the 18th century. In 1758, three were sunk in the harbour while defending Louisbourg during the second siege.

Although I spent two days in historic Louisbourg, it would be easy to spend more time here.

We drove around the Louisbourg harbor to see the lighthouse.

We looked across the harbor back at our campground in the little town.

I walked a few steps from my T@b down to the boats docked near our campground.

Sixteen Tons

July 24, 2013

Cape Breton Miners' Museum
Glacé Bay, Nova Scotia

"Sixteen tons and what do you get?
Another day over and deeper in debt.
St, Peter don't you call me cause I can't go,
I owe my soul to the company store."

I thought the helmet and cape given out at the beginning of the coal mine tour was for looks, but it turns out I was wrong. In the wet mine shaft our helmets banged against steel beams and low overhangs in the mine, some only 48" high.
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The Miners' Museum included a tour of the Ocean Deeps Colliery, an underground coal mine.

That's me in the second car.

Here we dress for the tour. The museum is next to the Atlantic Ocean; at one time the mine extended 9 miles out under the sea about 2/3 mile deep. It would take over an hour riding in a car with fellow miners to arrive at work. They were not paid for this transportation time.

There were several seams of coal layered overhead. If the seam were 4 ft. High then you would bend over to get the coal out. You couldn't stand up straight, just like us on the tour for a very uncomfortable half hour.

Wish, our guide, would weave personal tales with the history of the mine for 1 hr. 20 minutes.

Wish's grandfather started working the coal mine at age ten (before child labor laws). For 50 cents a 10 hour day, a boy called a trapper would sit in the dark until a door opened and then he would shut it tight behind the men.

Our guide was a retired miner who took us into a 1932 "room and pillar" mine where coal was extracted by manual labor.

At it's height 36,000 people lived in Glacé Bay for the purpose of producing coal.

He turned out the electric lights to show what it was really like for the miners going down into the mine. The grade of our path was 18 degrees but the miners actually descended at a 36 degree grade.

We ducked to avoid banging our heads overhead.

He turned on a heavy, handheld, loud machine machine that was used to replace the pick and knock the coal out of the wall. He said the noise damaged hearing but if the miner plugged his ears he could not hear if the overhead boards were breaking or a big rock might rolling down.

He showed a canary cage on a long stick. The bird inside would be poked up into an area where methane gas might be. If the bird jumped around nervously that meant there was barely enough air; if the bird fell over then the gas was dangerously potent. Wish said they lost a lot of birds and men in the mines. approximately 25,000 miners have died in the mines since the early 1800s.

Paul and I agreed that being down in the mine felt like hell- sometimes hard to breath, damp, dirty,
dark. Imagine heavy physical labor on top of that with rats running all around trying to get your lunch.

In the museum up top there were interesting videos mostly describing the exploitation of the miners by rich coal barons in England. The United Mine Workers in America were involved in creating unions in Nova Scotia.

Presently there are no operating coal mines in Canada but there is talk of opening coal mines next year because the price paid by China, Japan and India would be high enough.

Coal is used in lots of products, even substitute sugar. Yuck!

We walked behind the Museum to see the coal seams in the sea cliffs.

Before underground mining, workers would pick the coal out of cliffs in the 18th century. Can you see the coal seams in this photo?

"Sixteen Tons"

Some people say a man is made outta mud
a poor man's made outta muscle and blood
muscle and blood and skin and bones
a mind that's a-weak and a back that's strong
you load sixteen tons, what do you get?
another day older and deeper in debt
saint peter don't you call me 'cause i can't go
i owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
i picked up my shovel and i walked to the mine
i loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
and the straw boss said "well, a-bless my soul"
you load sixteen tons, what do you get?
another day older and deeper in debt
saint peter don't you call me 'cause i can't go
i owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin', it was drizzlin' rain
fightin' and trouble are my middle name
i was raised in the canebrake* by an ol' mama lion
cain't no-a high-toned woman make me walk the line
you load sixteen tons, what do you get?
another day older and deeper in debt
saint peter don't you call me 'cause i can't go
i owe my soul to the company store

If you see me comin', better step aside
a lotta men didn't, a lotta men died
one fist of iron, the other of steel
if the right one don't a-get you, then the left one will
you load sixteen tons, what do you get?
another day older and deeper in debt
saint peter don't you call me 'cause i can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

Music and lyrics by Merle Travis

The Cabot Trail

July 21, 2013

We caravaned down the east side of Cape Breton. That is Garth's rig up ahead.

We stopped a few times on the way down out of the mountains and saw lots of scenic beauty along the coast in Ingonish, Wreck Cove, Breton Cove, and Indian Brook. We wound around lakes seeing eagles and seagulls and visited artists' workshops-leather and glass. Then we had a brownie, Cape Breton style, at the Clucking Hen Deli & Bakery where the sign read " no fowl moods in here".

Reverend McKenzie founded St. Ann's Gaelic College in 1938 as a school devoted to the study and preservation of the Gaelic language and Celtic arts and culture from the Scottish Highlands.

And succeed he did. Here is the piper out front playing for tips.

McKenzie was inspired by another Presbyterian minister, Reverend MacLeod who had, a century before, lived on the present College site from the 1820s to the1850s. Finding it too crowded MacLeod migrated with his flock to New Zealand.

This is the administration hall.

The only institution of its kind in North America, students come from around the world.
Instructors offer programs in Scottish traditional disciplines: Gaelic language and song, Great Highland Bagpipe, Highland and Step dance, Cape Breton fiddle, Weaving.

In the Hall of the clans several tartans are shown with the correct names. Here are two.

I attended a series of 30 minute workshops: the kilt, Gaelic song and step dance, and weaving.

A diagram in the museum shows how to prepare the great kilt for wearing.

Our teacher Ann and her apprentice prepare the kilt (the whole nine yards).

The volunteer, a Canadian from Montreal, prepares to lie on the floor. A belt is under the kilt which wraps around his waist. His wife, a professional seamstress, reached out to help.

Ann pointed out that each day the Scotsman would dress himself in this manner without the aid of any women.

In old Scotland the kilt was worn every day; the tartan represented the clan. The kilt is a versatile garment for the occasion, even used as a blanket. During battle the great kilt would be cast off so it would not be damaged; underneath was a white cloth shirt.

When the Industrial Age came, the top half of the kilt was separated from the bottom because it would get caught in the machines.

In this photo Collin step dances to Cape Breton fiddle music. Unlike Highland dancing, there is no competition in step dancing. Each person is admired for individual style. The basic steps are taught to children. Both of these people began step dancing quite young.

Unlike Irish dancing where the arms are held down stiffly, Scotish step dancing uses relaxed arms at the side.

Collin also taught us a traditional Gaelic chorus to a mill song while "working the cloth". After a piece of cloth was woven, several people would sit on two sides of a long narrow table and tighten the weave by pushing and pulling. Someone would sing the verse (sometimes improvised) and the workers would join in on the chorus.

Lunch was served cafeteria style - spaghetti and meat sauce, salad, carrot cake and lemonade.

During the lunch break we enjoyed some great music. The musicians were introduced by the CEO of the College.

Notice the piper who doesn't blow into the bag instead pressing it under his arm.

A distant relation of mine and native of Edinborough, Alexander Graham Bell's photo hangs in the Gaelic museum.

I decided to see museum devoted to his work the next day in Baddeck.

This historic site is devoted to the commemoration of Alexander Graham Bell's inventive accomplishments. It also serves as a center of study of Bell's scientific and humanitarian work.

By the time of Bell's arrival in Baddeck the success of the telephone had freed him from the need to make a living. At his castle-like home, Beinn Breagh, he continued his busy routine of experimentation and analysis.

His imagination and wide-ranging curiosity led him into scientific experiments in such areas as sound transmission, medicine, aeronautics, and marine engineering.

French & English as well as 15% sales tax.

Re-creation of Bell's study. The owl picture was painted by Mabel because Alec was a night owl.

Helen Keller was one of many guests at Beinn Bhreagh.

His wife, Mabel, had been his student when he taught the deaf in Boston. She played a vital role in his career with financial and moral support to pursue his diverse interests.

One reason they moved to this remote place was so their little girls could go about in trousers and bare feet not being bothered by social conventions.

In a video of Bell's elderly daughters reminiscing in the 1960's, one told the story of how their father loved to go bathing in the ocean even at night. He would put a life preserver around himself and lie back and light a cigar. From the house the daughters would watch that little light go round in the darkness.