I’ve been thinking about the Fortress of Louisbourg of late. I haven’t worked there since 2000 but I still have enormous affection for the place. I also know that its challenges are many. I would put rising sea and sinking land in that area at the top of the list.

I stacked up the books I wrote (or co-wrote) about Louisbourg just now and it makes a pretty good pile. And then there would be an awful lot of articles and manuals I produced while I was there.

I’d like to think that all my material — and other works written by Ken Donovan, Sandy Balcom, Anne Marie Lane Jonah, Christopher Moore, Brenda Dunn, Bruce Fry, Gilles Proulx and others — helped establish Louisbourg’s place in the history of Canada and the consciousness of Canadians.

The reality, of course, is that history and consciousness are ephemeral.

I wish the current staff at the Fortress of Louisbourg the very best as they do their part in protecting and presenting a place that had some fascinating and remarkable stories.