Louisbourg is an unincorporated community and former town in
Cape Breton Regional Municipality,
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
.
History
The
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
military founded the
Fortress of Louisbourg in 1713 and its fortified seaport on the southwest part of the harbour, naming it in honour of
Louis XIV
Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...
.
The harbour had been used by European mariners since at least the 1590s, when it was known as English Port and Havre à l'Anglois, the French settlement that dated from 1713. The settlement was burned the first day the British landed during the
Siege of Louisbourg (1745). The French were terrorized and abandoned the Grand Battery, which the British occupied the following day. It was returned to France in 1748 but recaptured by the British in 1758.
After the capture in 1758, its fortifications were demolished in 1760 and the town-site abandoned by British forces in 1768. A small civilian population continued to live there after the military left.
English settlers subsequently built a small fishing village across the harbour from the abandoned site of the fortress. The village grew slowly with additional
Loyalists settlers in the 1780s. The harbour grew more accessible with the construction of the second
Louisbourg Lighthouse
Louisbourg Lighthouse is an active Canadian lighthouse in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. The current tower is the fourth in a series of lighthouses that have been built on the site, the earliest was the first lighthouse in Canada.
The first lighthouse
...
in 1842 on the site of the original French lighthouse destroyed in 1758. A railway first reached Louisbourg in 1877, but it was poorly built and abandoned after a forest fire. However the arrival of
Sydney and Louisburg Railway in 1894 brought heavy volumes of winter coal exports to Louisbourg Harbour's
ice-free waters as a winter coal port. The harbour was used by the Canadian government ship ''Montmagny'' in 1912 to land bodies from the
sinking of the RMS ''Titanic''. In 1913 the
Marconi Company
The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company that did business under that name from 1963 to 1987. Its roots were in the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 189 ...
established a transatlantic radio transmitting station here.
Incorporated in 1901, the Town of Louisbourg was disincorporated when all municipal units in
Cape Breton County
Cape Breton County is one of eighteen counties in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is located on Cape Breton Island.
From 1879 to 1995, the area of the county excluded from towns and cities was incorporated as the Municipality of ...
were merged into a single tier
regional municipality
A regional municipality (or region) is a type of Canadian municipal government similar to and at the same municipal government level as a county, although the specific structure and servicing responsibilities may vary from place to place. Reg ...
in 1995.
Name
Pronounced "Lewisburg" by its largely
English-speaking
Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...
population, the present community has been identified by slightly different spellings over the years by both locals and visitors. The town was originally spelled Louisburg and several companies, including the
Sydney and Louisburg Railway adopted this spelling. On 6 April 1966, the
Nova Scotia House of Assembly passed "An Act to Change the Name of the Town of Louisburg" which resulted in the town changing its official name to the original French spelling Louisbourg.
Demographics
In the
2021 Census of Population conducted by
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultu ...
, Louisbourg had a population of 825 living in 377 of its 420 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 877. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
Economy
Louisbourg's economy is dominated by the seasonal tourism industry and seafood processing. The depletion of groundfish stocks has negatively affected local fish processing operations in recent decades.
In the 1960s,
Parks Canada completed a partial reconstruction of the
Fortress of Louisbourg. Today this
National Historic Site of Canada
National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...
is the town's dominant economic engine, employing many residents and attracting thousands of tourists every year. The fortress holds large scale
historical reenactments every few years to mark important historical events and attract visitors to the town. The most recent in July 2008, commemorated the 250th anniversary of the first British siege victory over French forces in July 1758. The town's more recent history is preserved at the
Sydney and Louisburg Railway Museum located in the restored railway station in the centre of town.
Annually, the community hosts the Louisbourg Crab Fest. A large golf course and residential resort is planned near the community; designed by
Nick Faldo
Sir Nicholas Alexander Faldo, (born 18 July 1957) is an English retired professional golfer and television commentator. A top player of his era, renowned for his dedication to the game, he was ranked No. 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking fo ...
, the resort was expected to open in 2010 but development stalled in the recession.
Louisbourg is home to the Louisbourg Playhouse, a theatre company operating in an Elizabethan theatre that was used as a prop in the live-action 1994
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
film ''
Squanto: A Warrior's Tale''.
Climate
Louisbourg experiences a marine influenced
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...
(
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
''
Dfb''). The highest temperature ever recorded in Louisbourg was on 2 September 2010 and 15 July 2013.
The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 18 January 1982.
Fictional usage
Louisbourg (spelled Louisberg) was mentioned in
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.
He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
's story ''
Feathertop''. The town is also a major setting for
Thomas H. Raddall's 1946 novel ''Roger Sudden''. The town "Louisburg" is mentioned in
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely trans ...
's ''
Evangeline''. The 2011 film ''
Take This Waltz'' begins with a re-enactment scene from the fortress and features the lighthouse in several shots.
See also
*
Fortress of Louisbourg
*
Royal eponyms in Canada
Notes
References
''Places Names of Nova Scotia'', Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, p. 375
Further reading
*
*
*
*
{{Authority control
Communities in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality
Designated places in Nova Scotia
Former towns in Nova Scotia
General Service Areas in Nova Scotia