Our time came to bid good-bye to Prince Edward Island. We planned a late departure because, even though we’d drive through three provinces this morning, we covered only 80 miles. We decided to exit the island via the spectacular Confederation Bridge; I’m impressed every time we cross it. You pay to get off PEI and the toll on the bridge is less expensive than the ferry; it cost $56.50 for RV and tow car plus we would end up closer to the area of Nova Scotia where we wanted to begin our exploration.
We cut through a small corner of New Brunswick and turned east for Amherst, Nova Scotia where we plan to spend the next two nights at Loch Lomond Campground. After settling in and having lunch, we headed for the visitor center to pick up the touristy stuff for Nova Scotia.
Then we went back to New Brunswick to visit Fort Beausejour National Historic Site. The star-shaped fort which overlooks the Bay of Fundy, was built by the French in 1751. It fell to the British in 1755 and they renamed it Fort Cumberland. The fort was reinforced for the war of 1812 and abandoned in 1835. In the lab, a student was sorting and cleaning items from a dig in Beaubassin, one of the most populour and strategic regions in Acadia. She explained how they were finding items that would have been used by the French and English. It seemed like a really tedious job but she was very enthusiastic. We poked around the grounds meandering through the remnants of barracks, powder magazine foundations, wells, and other trenches. Then, we hit the museum which had a great collection of paintings, photographs, and other heritage exhibits representative of the 18th century.
By then, we were getting seriously hungry so we headed to historic downtown Amherst in search of a restaurant. We took a walk along Victoria Street and admired the tree sculptures carved by the artist, Bruce Hebert. The downtown is also home to some wonderful old buildings built with red sandstone and date back to the late 1800’s. We took some pictures and then headed for Cinder’s Steakhouse for supper. Food was pretty good too. We had a great day and we will do some sightseeing on the Glooscap Trail tomorrow.