FRASERS
AT LOUISBOURG
Part
Three
The
Town
Louisbourg was
essentially a fortified town of approximately 4000 inhabitants,
dependent on trade, fishing and the military for her survival. Each
year over 100 ships would visit her harbour from France, Quebec, the
West Indies, Acadia and the American Colonies. Although there were
many families in the town, men often outnumbered women in the
Fortress by a ratio of 10 to 1.
Voltaire called
Louisbourg "...the key to (French) possessions in North America."
With over two miles of perimeter walls cut by four monumental gates,
five guardhouses and seven bastions, Louisbourg was massive by North
American standards.
The architecture
of the fort is, of course, typically French, with distinctive
shutters, dormers, flared roofs and lavish use of ornamental
fleur-de-lis. The gates were named for various members of the Royal
family.
Everything in the
fort was functional, there was little room for the frivolous. No
animals were kept as pets. Gardens were given over to the growing of
herbs and vegetables. However, protected from the chilly breezes off
the ocean and laid out in raised beds, the Fortress gardens had a
beautiful symmetry all their own.
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