https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ALYrJ3rAmkB0o6b2HmiKW?si=jTUNcRWMSlmuakjjG2LrFA In 1744 the French and English beat the drums of war, and Antoine de La Boularderie finds himself in the middle of a conflict that rages across Cape Breton Island and Acadia. In the second part of this episode, we will listen to Antoine’s eyewitness account of the days leading up to the first … Continue reading Podcast Episode 09b – The Boularderies of Little Bras d’Or
Nova Scotia
Podcast Episode 01 – John Montresor’s Overland Trek from Louisbourg to the Bras d’Or Lakes, 1759
In our first episode, we introduce the Lost World of Cape Breton podcast series. We also follow John Montresor, an engineer in the British army, overland from Louisbourg to the shores of the Bras d'Or Lakes as he embarks on an "inland scout" in the months following the fall of Cape Breton Island to the … Continue reading Podcast Episode 01 – John Montresor’s Overland Trek from Louisbourg to the Bras d’Or Lakes, 1759
“The Worst Place There is in the World”: Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Aide-de-camp in Louisbourg – part 2
Having miraculously survived an apocalyptic 66-day North Atlantic crossing, the Chevalier de Johnstone arrived in Louisbourg on the 13th of September 17501 aboard L'Iphigénie, a merchant ship owned by Louisbourg businessman Michel Rodrigue2. She limped into Louisbourg harbour a shell of her former self, dismasted and carrying a desperate assortment of tattered worn-out canvas. During … Continue reading “The Worst Place There is in the World”: Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Aide-de-camp in Louisbourg – part 2
Voices Long Gone: Chéticamp’s “La Complainte de Louisbourg” – part 2
(October 7, 2022 – Since the publishing of this article, historian Éva Guillorel from the University of Rennes in France has done significant research into the origins of “La Complainte de Louisbourg.” She has uncovered evidence that this Acadian folksong is based on an older French song written about one of the sieges of Philippsburg. … Continue reading Voices Long Gone: Chéticamp’s “La Complainte de Louisbourg” – part 2
Voices Long Gone: Chéticamp’s “La Complainte de Louisbourg” – part 1
Chéticamp, Nova Scotia in the early 1900s (October 7, 2022 - Since the publishing of this article, historian Éva Guillorel from the University of Rennes in France has done significant research into the origins of "La Complainte de Louisbourg." She has uncovered evidence that this Acadian folksong is based on an older French song written … Continue reading Voices Long Gone: Chéticamp’s “La Complainte de Louisbourg” – part 1
An Introduction to the Sea: Jean-François de La Pérouse’s First Port-of-Call
Jean-François de Galaup, Comte de La Pérouse, by Genevieve Brossard de Beaulieu (1778) On the morning of January 24 1788, two French frigates, the Astrolabe and La Boussole, stood in towards the sheer cliffs of New Holland and made their way along the coast to Botany Bay. There, on the far side of the … Continue reading An Introduction to the Sea: Jean-François de La Pérouse’s First Port-of-Call
“An Inland Scout”: John Montresor’s Trek into 18th Century Cape Breton
Fort Duquesne. Quebec. Fort Detroit. Lexington. Bunker Hill. Brooklyn. Brandywine and Germantown. In a time when people generally didn't travel more than thirty miles from their homes, John Montresor, an engineer in the British Army and later Chief Engineer in America during the American War of Independence, saw more of the North American continent than … Continue reading “An Inland Scout”: John Montresor’s Trek into 18th Century Cape Breton
The Lost World of Cape Breton Island 