French Engineer Grillot de Poilly arrives in Port Toulouse, present-day St. Peters, Nova Scotia and gives a thorough assessment of what he finds there. This portion of his journal contains much valuable information about the Mi'kmaq that inhabited the area at this precarious time in Cape Breton's history. In some places we've inserted a question … Continue reading Monsieur de Poilly’s 1757 Winter Tour of Cape Breton Island – Part 4
Cape Breton Island
Falling Through the Cracks: An 18th Century Acadian Village on the Bras d’Or Lakes?
The years leading up to the second siege of Louisbourg were some of the most tumultuous and uncertain that the island of Cape Breton had ever seen. Despite the apprehension, however, people living on the island were making plans for their future. In the 1750s, the French Governor, the Count de Raymond, ordered three roads … Continue reading Falling Through the Cracks: An 18th Century Acadian Village on the Bras d’Or Lakes?
Off The Beaten Track: The Old Roads, Trails and Footpaths of Cape Breton, 1713 – 1758
Thomas Davies, "vue du pont de la rivière du Sault a la Puce pres de Quebec, au Canada, prise en 1790." Although depicting a scene outside of Québec City, the road and bridge seen in this painting would have been similar to some of the ones built by the French on Cape Breton Island. English … Continue reading Off The Beaten Track: The Old Roads, Trails and Footpaths of Cape Breton, 1713 – 1758
Podcast Episode 07a – The Chevalier de Johnstone: From Culloden to Cape Breton
The Chevalier de Johnstone is one of the most colourful personalities to have come through Cape Breton in the 18th century. A Scottish exile who was involved in the 1746 Jacobite Rebellion, Johnstone was likely one of the only - if not the only - Scotsmen in Cape Breton during the time of Louisbourg. He … Continue reading Podcast Episode 07a – The Chevalier de Johnstone: From Culloden to Cape Breton
Monsieur de Poilly’s 1757 Winter Tour of Cape Breton Island – Part 3
The next leg of the French engineer de Poilly's journey, as found in the document “Plan et memoire d’un voyage fait pendant l’hiver de 1757, autour de l’Isle Roïale,” takes a very dangerous turn. Poilly and his travelling companions enter the Bras d'Or Lakes - an unfamiliar place to the French living in Cape Breton … Continue reading Monsieur de Poilly’s 1757 Winter Tour of Cape Breton Island – Part 3
Podcast Episode 05 – The Lost Harbour of Saint 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 … Continue reading Podcast Episode 05 – The Lost Harbour of Saint Esprit
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 … Continue reading Monsieur de Poilly’s 1757 Winter Tour of Cape Breton Island – Part 2
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 … Continue reading Monsieur de Poilly’s 1757 Winter Tour of Cape Breton Island – Part 1
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 … Continue reading The Wrong “Caledonia”: the Origins of a Traditional Cape Breton Song and How It Was Popularized in the U.K.
The Lost Settlements of 19th Century Cape Breton – the Old French Road, Clarke’s Road and Pollett’s Cove
Figure 1.1 - Cape Breton Island in 1831. By this time, Scottish immigration has been ongoing for more than two decades, and the island's communities and the roads that link them begin to look familiar to the modern eye. For the full size image from Archives Nova Scotia, click here. Drawn by John L. Johnston. … Continue reading The Lost Settlements of 19th Century Cape Breton – the Old French Road, Clarke’s Road and Pollett’s Cove
The Lost World of Cape Breton Island 