Through the town to the quay

Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site

Short and central, Rue Toulouse links the military heights and the commercial waterfront. Imagine it at year’s end, with the last ships awaiting a fair wind for France. The governor's last dispatches are carried down Rue Toulouse to the port as the sailors make their farewells in the town.

Here, as you turn back into the streets of Louisbourg, is an opportunity to gather together the building styles of this French colonial town of the early 1700s. In timberframe or stonemasonry, the lines would have been familiar to a visitor from Saint-Malo or La Rochelle, for many of the designs are characteristically French. To find local adaptations, look for the pervasive use of wood, particularly in the piquet buildings of vertical logs, also in the shingling and board siding of more substantial homes.

Even where the forms are most traditional, homeowners adapted their buildings to local conditions. Plank siding kept out the ceaseless wind, and some homes had interior and exterior shutters to seal and secure their many-paned windows. Looking over the rooftops, note the many dormer windows that suggest how crowded households used every available inch of space.

De la Plagne House

De la Plagne Property

Pierre-Paul d’Espiet de la Plagne and his wife Marie-Charlotte Delort owned the house on the corner in the 1740s. Pierre-Paul was the son and nephew of garrison officers and both his brothers had served here with him. His kinship ties extended throughout the colonial elite, and he received choice postings around the colony. De la Plagne sometimes used his troops as servants in his home, and a young soldier called La Fleur later used the knowledge he had gained working in this house. On a dark night in 1740 he scaled the fence, forced a window and robbed his captain of a few coins. It was not a planned theft ⁠— swift discovery and conviction saw the soldier branded and whipped through the streets.

The house has a timber frame beneath its siding ⁠— only the adjoining storehouse is masonry. There are two chimneys. In houses that were often partitioned into many small rooms, fireplaces meant heat. As you explore the furnished homes of Louisbourg the location of the fireplaces can hint to you about the comfort of each room.

After the first siege of Louisbourg, de la Plagne retired to his estates in southwestern France.


The reconstructed site
Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site
Fortress of Louisbourg - Reconstructed buildings
On the map Building name
1 Desroches House (Wheelchair accessible)
- Dauphin Gate
- Dauphin Demi-Bastion
2 Powder Magazine
3 Barracks
4 Postern Tunnel
5 Embrasures at Lartigue
6 Lartigue House (Wheelchair accessible)
- Lime Kiln
7 Artillery Storehouse
8 Artillery Forge
9 King's Bakery Food service
- Woodlot
10 Duhaget House (Wheelchair accessible)
Garrison and Fortifications Exhibit
- Icehouse
11 De la Perelle House (Wheelchair accessible)
Congrégation de Notre-Dame Exhibit
12 De la Perelle Storehouse
13 Engineer's Residence
14 Laundry and Stables
15 Rodrigue House
16 Rodrigue Storehouse
17 De Gannes House (Wheelchair accessible)
18 Guardhouse
- King's Bastion
19 Military Chapel
20 Governor's Apartments
Fortress of Louisbourg - Reconstructed buildings
On the map Building name
21 King's Bastion Barracks
Reconstruction, Tools of War, and Archeological Typography Exhibits
- King's Garden
22 McLennan Centre (Wheelchair accessible) (Wifi available)
Virtual Reality Experience
23 De la Plagne (Wheelchair accessible) (Information)
24 De la Vallière House
Mi'kmaw Interpretive Centre
25 De la Vallière Storehouse
26 De la Vallière Storehouse II
- Fizel and Loppinot Properties
- Dugas House
27 Carrerot House
Building Techniques Exhibit
28 Benoist House (Wheelchair accessible) (Gift shop)
29 L'Épée Royale Café (Wheelchair accessible) Food service
30 King's Storehouse
31 Hôtel de la Marine (Wheelchair accessible) Food service
32 Grandchamp House (Wheelchair accessible) Food service
- Frédéric Gate
- Carcan
33 Grandchamp Inn (Wheelchair accessible) Food service
- Destouches House
34 Ordonnateur's Residence (Wheelchair accessible)
Recollecting Lives Exhibit & Harbour Gallery
35 Bigot Storehouse
36 Stables
- Louisbourg Cross
37 Marie Marguerite Rose plaque
- Eastward along the Quay
- Ruins Walk
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