NATIONAL HISTORIC SITES OF CAPE BRETON
LIEUX HISTORIQUES NATIONAUX DU CAPE-BRETON

Vol. 6, No. 2
February 2004 - Février 2004 

The Parc du Bourg de Pabos

Isa Bernard, Museum Coordinator for the Parc du Bourg de Pabos on the Gaspe Peninsula, visited Louisbourg the week of February 23. She and her friend, Serge Plourde, were here to learn all that they could about building and maintaining a reproduction building.

The Parc du Bourg de Pabos is based on the seigneury of the Sieur de Bellefeuille, who had been at Plaisance and at Louisbourg before beginning his fishing establishment at Pabos. The people, industry and history of Louisbourg and Pabos have many similarities and close ties. The Parc du Bourg hopes to reconstruct one of the fishermen’s huts found in their own archaeological digs, and were seeking our experience and guidance to help direct them.

They spent a very busy week, working with Anne Marie Lane Jonah, Lionel Wadden and Philip Hoad, Sandy Balcom, Susann Myers, Eric Krause, Brian Harpell and Peter Chiasson. They were impressed and encouraged by the knowledge of the staff here, and the willingness of people to share their expertise. They have a lot of work ahead of them, and will keep in contact with Louisbourg as their project progresses.

There are two small books about Pabos in the library at Louisbourg, and the Parc du Bourg de Pabos has a website at http://www.bourgdepabos.com 

Snow Storms 2004

It is amazing what happens when you get complacent. We thought that we'd gotten most of the winter behind us - the little groundhog at Two Rivers was predicting an early spring. Then the storms hit on Feb 19, 20 and on February 26 closing Louisbourg and giving us time off to shovel out our driveways. When's a holiday not a holiday?

Please click  on the image

Our snow plow operators don’t have much space left to pile the snow in these pictures!!!

Visitors from Roma

On February 27^th Edgar Dewar and Roger Kelly came from the Roma Site in Prince Edward Island to consult with staff at the Fortress of Louisbourg. They are members of the Three Rivers Roma Inc. which is concerned with the development of the Roma seigneury at Three Rivers in PEI. The seigneury existed at the same time as the Fortress of Louisbourg. The seigneury was burned in 1745 at the time of the first siege. Both visitors were impressed with the level of detail and research that has gone into our site.

Condolences

Our sincere sympathies to Ned Ward and his family on the death of his brother, Harvey Ward on February 18, 2004 in Hamilton, Ontario.

Also our sincere sympathies to Greg, Bernard and Fabian Boone, on the death of their brother Tony Boone on February 26, 2004 in Sydney.

Sr. Clare MacKinnon

Many of us will remember fondly Sr. Clare MacKinnon from Holy Angels Convent in Sydney. Sr. Clare passed away on February 16^th, 2004 after a lengthy illness.

Sr. Clare was instrumental in having the exhibit, "The Sisters of Louisbourg: The Mission of the Congregation of Notre Dame" established at the Fortress in 2001.

The exhibit recounts the challenges and successes faced by a highly motivated community of religious women in establishing the first formal school for girls on Cape Breton Island. In so doing they left an indelible mark on the 18^th-century fortress town.

Having worked with Sr. Clare, many of us feel that she has left her indelible mark on us as well. She will be missed by all who knew her.

Anyone wishing to submit an article to the Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Please forward to Donna MacNeil at donna.macneil@pc.gc.ca  or telephone 733-3551.