Images of Port Royal

Well, I am back in the land of high speed internet. This means I will be able to post some pictures in addition to my regular ramblings. On the day we left on our trip, I took a drive and got a handful of pictures so I could mix some Annapolis County content in with my travels in Eastern Ontario.

I realized recently that I have done something very strange for a blog on the heritage of the Annapolis Royal region. I have been writing for about two months and I have not really made any reference to our most renowned historic site, the Port Royal Habitation. This is also strange since the Habitation is one of my favorite historic sites and I live within walking distance of the front gate.

The original Habitation was established in 1605 by a French expedition led by Pierre Dugua Sieur de Monts. Despite de Monts' leadership of the expedition, his cartographer, Samuel de Champlain, has gone on to have a much more historically significant legacy due to his later explorations and his role in the founding of Quebec. The original Habitation lasted until 1613 when it was destroyed by a party of British raiders from Virginia under the leadership of Samuel Argall.

In the 1930s, a group came together with the idea of building a reconstruction of the Habitation. This was one of the first major historic reconstructions in North America. One of the key figures in the process was an American named Harriett Taber Richardson. She spent a great deal of her time raising funds in New England for the completion of the project. The project was completed in 1939 with the assistance of the Canadian federal government. The site is now operated by Parks Canada.

As I go along, I will post additional images and provide more of the history of this site. Today, with the exception of the top image, I chose to post a series of images of what de Monts and Champlain would have seen when they looked out from the banks of the Basin. With the exception of some substantial erosion, these views are very similar to what would have been seen in 1605.

All for now,
RGS