On to Louisburg! Graham's strong wish during the trip planning was to make sure we spent time in Cape Breton. This area was settled primarily by people from Scotland (hence, Nova Scotia-New Scotland) and Ireland, definitely giving the place a strong Celtic influence. In fact, in this section of the province, the signs are in English and Gaelic! Cape Breton is world reknown for its music and Graham’s request was we MUST get a piece of that. I had to also pay attention to the distances and drive time. The roads being what they are, you just “can’t get there from here” as fast as we can with the Interstate system. I was trying to keep travel time to 4 hours and under so we could actually DO something each day. Hence the decision to go to Louisburg and not further up the island. And what a marvelous choice it turned out to be!
Our first stop was Fortress Louisburg, an absolutely marvelous recreation of the fort and town that once existed. Started by the government because of the lack of work for local miners and fishermen, it turned into a huge archeological dig with the workers being retrained into various crafts. If you have been to Plimouth Plantation or Colonial Williamsburg, you will have an immediate understanding: the place is recreated to look pretty much as it did in a prior era, and the people working there are, for the most part, dressed in costume and act knowledgably about the life and times. The current Fortress is set back in the time when the French, who had built the fort and town as THE major east coast city in the mid 1700s, were being threatened by the encroaching English. Right from the entrance at the gate, where we were challenged to prove we were not English spies, we were free to join in the fun. As large as the place already is, they told us it is only ¼ of the actual footprint of the old town. What an amazing national park!
That evening, after another seafood dinner, we went to the Louisburg Playhouse for Lyrics and Laughter. A small Elizabethan-style theater (a la Shakespeare’s Globe) had been built and roofed in the modern town. Our hostess at the B&B told us she was amazed we had gotten tickets (hey! I’ve been planning this trip since last February!) because she had tried a month before and it was sold out. She loved the group we were going to see, having gotten to know them from prior years when they were college students and had had long runs there each summer. Now they were back for only a few weekends. They played Celtic music with multiple instrumental talent by most of them and the 2 women also step dancing or clogging. We picked up one cd and probably will buy more from their website.
After the show I commented to one of the band members about something I experienced in Nashville. I had worked as a volunteer for the Nashville Symphony for about 4 years and attended many wonderful shows. When River Dance came to town, they invited a bluegrass band to join them on stage for part of the show and it was apparently that the music had its roots in Celtic traditions. When I mentioned it, the guy said they would NEVER go the Nashville route. He has a friend who lives there and visits several times a year so has learned how “big business” it has become. The band members are all young, and now out of university. Several of them have made solo cds as well and they deserve a successful career.
Well, the next morning, after our “skip lunch breakfast” served by the B&B hostess, we headed back towards Yarmouth. We went to Truro, mid province, hoping to catch the last evening of a blues festival but got to town only an hour before it was scheduled to end. Instead we went to the river to observe the tidal bore (photo was presented in a prior journal entry) and just relaxed at that B&B a bit.
We’ve been intrigued by B&Bs and the people who run them since we started using them for lodging about 8 years ago. The couple who run the one in Truro immigrated to Nova Scotia from Holland with the intention of running a B&B. They chose Truro so they could run it year-round, as it is centrally located and the city hosts many professional conferences during the year, providing a need during slow tourist times. The woman also runs a lunch tea-room. She sounded pretty tired and most of the B&B operators indicated there are times when they are ready to close down the whole venture. Perhaps the only ones who seemed like they would continue forever were the ones at Coastal Adventures with the kayak program. The people in Louisburg and the one we stayed with in Niagara Falls essentially are running the B&B in a regular family home with their living quarters in the basement. The one outside of Yarmouth had the B&B in the basement with their living quarters upstairs. The others were all purchased by the owners as already established B&Bs and I think the financial mortgage obligation, being higher, was a large part of the stress they were feeling. The ones who run their place seasonally plan for a down time in the winter, and also seemed to feel better about running their business. But, except for one hostess, all were affable and extremely fun to chat with, full of information about the local area and very very worth staying with.
Well, the next morning, after our “skip lunch breakfast” served by the B&B hostess, we headed back towards Yarmouth. We went to Truro, mid province, hoping to catch the last evening of a blues festival but got to town only an hour before it was scheduled to end. Instead we went to the river to observe the tidal bore (photo was presented in a prior journal entry) and just relaxed at that B&B a bit.
We’ve been intrigued by B&Bs and the people who run them since we started using them for lodging about 8 years ago. The couple who run the one in Truro immigrated to Nova Scotia from Holland with the intention of running a B&B. They chose Truro so they could run it year-round, as it is centrally located and the city hosts many professional conferences during the year, providing a need during slow tourist times. The woman also runs a lunch tea-room. She sounded pretty tired and most of the B&B operators indicated there are times when they are ready to close down the whole venture. Perhaps the only ones who seemed like they would continue forever were the ones at Coastal Adventures with the kayak program. The people in Louisburg and the one we stayed with in Niagara Falls essentially are running the B&B in a regular family home with their living quarters in the basement. The one outside of Yarmouth had the B&B in the basement with their living quarters upstairs. The others were all purchased by the owners as already established B&Bs and I think the financial mortgage obligation, being higher, was a large part of the stress they were feeling. The ones who run their place seasonally plan for a down time in the winter, and also seemed to feel better about running their business. But, except for one hostess, all were affable and extremely fun to chat with, full of information about the local area and very very worth staying with.
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