Canada Guide
The Maritime Provinces
Fort Beauséjour
Providing gorgeous views over the broad sweep of Chignecto Bay, Fort Beauséjour National Historic Site (June to mid-Oct daily 9am–5pm; $3.95) is stuck on a grassy, treeless hill about 50km south of Moncton and just 2km from the junction of Trans-Canada hwys 2 and 16. The fort stands on the isthmus connecting New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and its strategic value was first recognized by the French, who fortified the site in 1751. Four years later, the British captured the fort and promptly strengthened it with a beady eye fixed firmly on the local Acadians, who they thought might rebel against them. In the event, the Acadians did no such thing, but they were deported anyway and the British garrison stayed on until 1835 as a defence against the Americans.
Flush with the brow of the hill, the remains of the star-shaped fort include much of the original earthwork, the concentric ditches and mounds typical of the period, as well as a sally port and a couple of deeply recessed casements, used for general storage. The site also has a delightful museum with excellent displays on the history of the fort and of the Acadian farmers who settled the region in the 1670s. Some of the most interesting exhibits, like ancient clogs and farm tools, were recovered when the fort was repaired and restored in the 1960s. The Acadians enclosed and drained the marshes below the fort to produce hay, grain crops and vegetables – and the lines of their dykes and ditches are still visible from the hill.
From Fort Beauséjour, it's just a few kilometres south to central Nova Scotia and about 50km east to the Confederation Bridge over to PEI.