L’Epée Royale

Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site

The neighbourhood changes as you descend Rue Toulouse. As you approach the quay, inns and taverns proliferate. Here the sign of the Epée Royale attracted well-to-do merchants and visiting captains. Innkeeper Jean Seigneur, nicknamed “La Rivière”, charged more for a month’s pension than many men earned in that time, but the service was good: guests entertained their clients and friends with pork, duck, casseroles and meat pies. Of course the liquor bill was extra ⁠— Seigneur offered French wine and brandy by the jug, bottle or keg. Your servant could stay too for a small fee, eating the scraps and perhaps sleeping in the storehouse at the back.

For a short time Louise, a panis slave who arrived in Louisbourg by Québec, lived with the Seigneur family. However, not long after her arrival it was found she was pregnant by the man she had previously been enslaved to. She and her baby were sold four months after she gave birth.

Jean Seigneur was respected by his community. His daughters married well, and he was often asked to manage estate settlements for his neighbours. A widower for ten years, he died in this house in 1745, and the rooms where you may dine have been furnished according to the detailed inventory made to help settle his own estate.


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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