A lot of history here!

Saturday, September 22
This area of the Annapolis Valley and the Annapolis River has been settled continuously since 1602. Of course there have been conflicts and the area bounced back and forth between French and British rule. Naturally there were fortifications and that is where we went today......to check out a couple.

Tide was mostly in on this breezy Saturday.

First stop today (well second....after the farmer's market) was this small museum.

This was a home (well actually two separate homes) that was turned into an inn back in the mid-1700's. The pictures show its progression.

Notice the hand-hewn timbers. One of the houses is on the left and the other on the right. When they joined the two houses to create a larger inn they had to modify some of the timbers to match the other house. Some of the cutting on such large lumber was obviously done with care by a dedicated craftsman.

They had glass panels where you could see the basement timbers.

The basement. The modern steel beams and wooden timbers were placed for the safety of visitors and to save the house from decay.

Wattle and daub filling in the walls. This was basically mud and straw.

A bit rough on the inside, nicely finished with wainscoting on the outside.....which is actually the inside of the structure.....get it?

This window had been covered up during the conversion to the inn.

Today you can see the restored final version of the inn. The two houses were joined together and a new common roof attached. Very nice.....for mid-1700's.

Next stop was the National Historic Site of Fort Anne. This was one of those French/English back and forth depending on who was winning the latest war between them.

The only remaining complete structure of the fort.

The last version of the fort. There were four forts built on this location.

The stone gunpowder storage.

The gunpowder storage actually had two walls and some unique venting to keep the powder dry.

Inside the storage room.

There were initials and dates carved into the door from the 1700's. real? Not sure.

'Gunpowder' kegs.

Beautifully crafted. Note the two vertical gaps (one is in the shadow of the rack on the left). these were vents to allow fresh dry air into the vault to help keep the powder dry.

Every fort needs lots of cannon!

These ditches look easy to cross but in the days of the fort these ditches had vertical walls shored with lumber . The fort walls were very difficult to climb for soldiers carrying guns.

A gate to the outside ditches.

Rolling hills today. Impenetrable fortress in the 1700's.

An old cemetery was just outside the fort walls. Some very old graves.

This grave of a soldier was from the early-1700's.

The original gunpowder storage. It proved too damp, so they made it into a prison!

We headed to the other side of the river to visit Port Royal Settlement. People have been living in this are since 1605.

 period-clothed interpreter

Port Royal Habitant was under some reconstruction.

The gates to the Habitant. 

Inside the walls.

Blacksmitth's shop

The kitchen

Dining hall

Bakery

Families and soldiers lived within the walls.

Attic for soldiers. At least they had windows!

This ingenious rig was a foot powered lathe.

The leather strap was wrapped around the piece and when pulled the piece would turn and chisels would be used to scrape and shape the wood.

Central well

Chapel

Important quarters. Samuel deChamplain actually stayed here in 1606. Not this exact room of course as this is a reconstruction, but one just like it.

Warehouse.

Essential items were stored in the warehouse. Having a coffin on hand was not a bad idea.

Spare sails and ropes for ships that docked here regularly.

The central compound.

Outside the fort on the shores of the Annapolis River.

Looking out toward the large bay before you get to the Bay of Fundy

Low tide on the River. Lots of folks out digging for clams on these type of flats.

Nice sunset at the campground tonight!

.....and that was Our View From Here!