Fantasy RV Caravan - Day 11

Monday, 12 August - Day 11

After we got settled at the Cove Oceanfront Campground, the wind picked up.  Sometime during the night, it ratcheted up even more, causing Sprinty to rock back and forth like he did a few times in Arizona last winter.  All good.

Someone woke up early enough to catch the morning sky colors over the hilltop behind the campground.

Today was a bus tour of the sights in Annapols Royal, NS.  The bus picked everyone up in the campground at 8:30am.  Today, Kris drew the three of diamonds, so we were sitting on the driver side, three rows back.

The first stop was a guided tour at the Port-Royal National Historic Site located on the north bank of the Annapolis Basin in the community of Port Royal, NS.  The site is the location of the Habitation at Port-Royal.   

After we gathered inside one of the buildings, our guide, in period costume, provided a history of the settlement at Port Royal and the reconstruction of the buildings.

The Habitation at Port-Royal was established by France in 1605 and was that nation's first settlement in North America.  Port-Royal served as the capital of Acadia until its destruction by British military forces in 1613.  

France relocated the settlement and capital 8 km (5.0 mi) upstream and to the south bank of the Annapolis River the site of the present-day town of Annapolis Royal.

The relocated settlement in Annapolis Royal kept the same name "Port-Royal" and served as the capital of Acadia for the majority of the 17th century until the British conquest of the colony in 1710, at which time the settlement was renamed Annapolis Royal.

The original settlers from France initially settled on St Croix Island in 1604 at the mouth of the St Croix River that forms part of the Canada–United States border separating Maine from New Brunswick.  The settlers deforested the island to build houses, and failed to consider the winter conditions - they had little wood to burn for heat, and the icing of the surrounding waters basically stranded them on the island for long periods of time.  Combined with scurvy, a large percentage of the original settlers died in the first year.

This lead the survivors to select a new place to settle, and they selected Port Royal.  Port Royal was named that as it had a large natural harbor that could hold 2,000 ships.  The houses and buildings were arranged in a fort-like configuration, but it was not for military defense.  It was lessons learned from the weather that they had experienced in St. Croix, and so the configuration gave them protection from the winter elements.

An English raiding party from Jamestown, VA arrived in 1613 and found the homes vacant as the men were out working in the fields.  They took what they could use (hardware, food stocks, etc), and burned the rest to the ground.  Because the French settlers at Port Royal were on good terms with the First Nation Mi'kmaq, the men were able to survive the winter.  

The Habitation at Port-Royal is the the first federal reconstruction in Canada.  Construction took place from 1939-1941 and was based on a duplicate set of plans for the original Habitation that had been recently discovered in France. 

After an opportunity to wander through the buildings, we headed for Fort Anne National Historic Site located across the bay in Annapolis Royal. 

Our guide provided an overview of why Fort Anne was constructed.  Nova Scotia was the most fought over piece of land in North America, between New England and New France.  

English to claimed to the 45th parallel, and the French claimed to the 40th parallel, leading to decades of conflict between the British and the French.  Part of the fighting over Nova Scotia was over the monopoly on the fur trade (fur pelts obtained through trading with the Mi'kmaq) and fishing.  Part of the fighting was the British attacking Nova Scotia in retaliation for raids done by the French from Montreal.

13 battles were fought here, and Annapolis Royal changed hands 7 times.  The French would win it by treaty, and the British would win it by battle. The last siege was in 1710.

After the introduction, we had time to walk the fort.  

In the mid-1800s, the last garrison left the Fort.  It was then used for various purposes, but in the early 1900s when it was proposed to raze the Fort to build a hotel, locals banded together to lobby for preservation.  As a result, Fort Anne was preserved and became Canada’s first National Historic Park.

We completed the tour with about 45 minutes before our lunch at the German Bakery Sachsen Cafe & Restaurant across the street.  Heidi, the proprietor was quite clear no one was to arrive before 12:15pm, so we wandered the town of Annapolis Royal.  All of four or five blocks long.  We marveled that Annapolis Royal used to be the capital of Nova Scotia.  It seemed to be. A pretty small town for a capital city.

Many having walked the town arrived at the restaurant early and we gathered on the patio out front.  With typical German precision, precisely at 12:15, Heidi announced we could be seated inside.  We enjoyed bratwurst or wienerschnitzel depending on what we selected several days ago.

After lunch, our next stop was a self-guided tour of Annapolis Royal Historical Gardens.  A quick check of Google Maps found that it was only a six-minute walk.    While the rest of the crew waited for the bus to pick them up and take them the 2-1/2 blocks, the six of us that sat together at lunch enjoyed the short walk to the gardens, and an early start at wandering the grounds.  The Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens is situated on 17 scenic acres, where over 1,800 species and cultivars of plants are displayed.  In addition, there were 15 sculptures throughout the gardens.  When we passed by the sculpture named “Bay of Fundy Driftwood Sculpture” made up of driftwood relocated from Parker’s Cove (where the campground is), Lyn insisted on taking a photo of the three guys  by the sculpture.  Oh, by the way, the sculpture ‘s artist was Mother Nature.

In one of the buildings, a gentleman in period costume was making biscuits in a wood fired oven.  We got to taste the biscuits with maple syrup drizzled on top.  We all had a good chuckle when he put the next batch in the oven, then pulled out his smartphone to start the timer.  When we made a comment, he replied that he was a time traveler.

Our group from lunch walked most of the grounds and wanted to walk more (for exercise) when they announced it was time to board the bus.

Once back at the campground, we took care of the fill and dump chore, and relaxed.  After dinner, the laundry room (two washers, two dryers) was not being used, so we got some laundry done while we attended the 7pm Trip meeting.  

At the Trip meeting, our Wagonmaster went over our travel on Wednesday to Lunenburg, NS, and the surprise add-on to the itinerary for Thursday.  After the meeting was over (which was about the time the laundry was done), they fired up two propane fire rings (Nova Scotia also has a burn ban in place for regular campfires) and our organizer provided the ingredients for s’mores.