Podcast Episode 05 – The Lost Settlements of Cape Breton – St Esprit
For centuries, Cape Breton Island has seen waves of settlers come ashore from many different parts of the world. The ebb and flow of peoples spurred on by the effects of war, by enterprise or by the simple desire to put food on their table has shaped the cultural fabric of the island for hundreds of years. Bretons, Normans and Basque arrived during the 18th century when the island was under the jurisdiction of New France, and then in the early 19th century the Gaelic speaking inhabitants of places like Barra and Uist put down permanent roots seeking refuge and…
Remarkable Stories From the Lost Settlements of 18th Century Cape Breton
Header image – “Ruins of fort, Louisburg, Cape Breton, NS, about 1900,” courtesy McCord-Stewart Museum This post builds on the research found in the article “The Lost Settlements of 18th Century Cape Breton Island – St. Esprit, Allemands, Rouillé and Espagnole.” Writing about events that took place during his tenure in Louisbourg, the Chevalier de Johnstone identified the very moment he realized that the Maritime region was headed for another full-scale war. That watershed moment was the peace-time seizure of a French merchant vessel by a British warship off of Nova Scotia1 in the year 1750. As it turned out,…
Monsieur de Poilly’s 1757 Winter Tour of Cape Breton Island – Part 2
Header image: Following the Moose, Cornelius Krieghoff (1860) The next portion of the journal “Plan et memoire d’un voyage fait pendant l’hiver de 1757, autour de l’Isle Roïale,” prepared by Monsieur Grillot de Poilly, details their journey from Spanish Bay to Port Dauphin, known today respectively as Sydney and St. Ann’s. If anyone out there is familiar with this part of the island, you know that it is no leisurely stroll through the park. Poilly and his three companions spend most of their time on the ice exploring Spanish Bay, then crossing Little and Big Bras d’Or to the north.…
Monsieur de Poilly’s 1757 Winter Tour of Cape Breton Island – Part 1
Header image – Winter Landscape, Laval by Cornelius Krieghoff (1862) François-Claude-Victor Grillot de Poilly (or Monsieur de Poilly for short) was an Engineer in the French army who served at Louisbourg from 1755 to 1758. In February 1757, when the rivers and lakes had finally frozen over and travel on foot was now possible, he undertook a tour of Cape Breton Island to take stock of the state of the colony. It took him way off the beaten track – in this case, literally. This trip produced a document entitled “Plan et memoire d’un voyage fait pendant l’hiver de 1757,…
The Wrong “Caledonia”: the Origins of a Traditional Cape Breton Song and How It Was Popularized in the U.K.
Header image – A view of the steamer SS Marion in Sydney, ca. 1900. Beaton Institute – reference number: 77-584-718. The first time I heard the song “When I First Went to Caledonia” (the traditional Cape Breton song alluded to in the title of this article), I was listening to the group Open The Door For Three perform at the Kennedy Center during the Ireland 100 Festival. I had watched these veteran mainstays of the Irish music scene perform at the Celtic Colours International Festival in Cape Breton about a year prior to that, and I wanted to hear more…
Podcast Episode 4 – Explorers La Pérouse and Cook Converge on Cape Breton, 1758
In the age of Pacific exploration, two men spearheaded expeditions to parts of globe previously uncharted by Europeans – Jean François de La Pérouse and James Cook. Although La Pérouse and Cook would never meet, both men would converge on Cape Breton Island in the year 1758, near the beginning of their careers. This episode takes us from the port of Rochefort, France to the idyllic settlement known today as Englishtown, and then on to the shores of Gabarus Bay. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Updates to the Podcast
We’re excited to announce that you will now be able to listen to the Lost World of Cape Breton Island Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast and Anchor. The Lost World of Cape Breton Island Podcast is a semi-regular production based on the articles published on this blog. From time to time we come across a subject that (we feel) would be best presented through the medium of storytelling, and we’ll do so by means of this podcast. The podcast is written and researched by J.M. Bourgeois and produced by J.R. Bourgeois, with traditional 18th century music from Les…
The Lost Settlements of 19th Century Cape Breton – the Old French Road, Clarke’s Road and Pollett’s Cove
While I was knee-deep in research for the article “The Lost Settlements of 18th Century Cape Breton Island,” which explored the history of four 18th century communities whose exact locations are not fully known today, I would come across the stories of the people who put down roots in the very same areas in the decades following the end of French rule in Cape Breton – namely, the Gaels. I came to realize that examples of lost communities could be found not only in 18th century Cape Breton, but in 19th century Cape Breton as well. Considering the amount of…
D’où vient la Complainte de Louisbourg ? — Acadiensis
In the articles “Voices Long Gone: Chéticamp’s “La Complainte de Louisbourg” – part 1 & 2″ published here on The Lost World of Cape Breton Island, we analyzed the origins and historicity of a traditional Acadian ballad known as “La Complainte de Louisbourg,” known particularly to the Acadian people of the region of Chéticamp, Nova Scotia. The ballad seems to tell the tale of the first siege of Louisbourg through the perspective of an eye-witness to those events. Cryptically, the song references the German fortress of Philippsburg, known to the French in the 18th century as “Philisbourg.” Some versions of…
Express Delivery to Versailles – Four Plumed Partridges, a Moose and a Squirrel named ‘Bonne’
The Count de Raymond was the most eccentric governor that the colony of Île Royale, present-day Cape Breton Island, had ever known. Many people that served under him thought he was delusional, and not without reason. Says historian T.A. Crowley: “Raymond was the most flamboyant governor of a Canadian colony between Frontenac and Lord Durham. With Frontenac he shared an unbounded ambition and a passion for extravagant living. For both men the title of governor evoked, as Mme de Sévigné wrote, “noise, trumpets and violins.” Like Durham, Raymond gloried in pomp and ceremony.” Below is a portion of official correspondence between the…
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All maps and illustrations courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France – Gallica, the Normal B Levanthal Map & Education Centre and the McCord Museum
© J.M Bourgeois & J.R. Bourgeois 2020-2023
The Lost World of Cape Breton Island 