August 18, 2023 The Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site is located on Cape Breton Island’s eastern coast, 40 minutes from Sydney, Nova Scotia. As a fishing port, military base and center of commerce, Louisbourg briefly shared front rank importance in France's overseas empire because of its cod exports. It flourished for less than half a century, and then it was extinguished by military conquest. None of its structures survived the next two centuries. Approximately onequarter of the original town and fortifications were recreated between the 1960s and 1980s as they were during the 1740s, immediately preceding Louisbourg's first siege. The story of the fortress is interesting and its reconstruction is quite remarkable.