To counteract the English building
Fort Lawrence, the Governor General of New France,
Jacques-Pierre de la Jonquiere ordered the construction
of Fort Beausejour. The Fort was built to the west
of Fort Lawrence at Point-a-Beausejour. This site
overlooks the Missaguash River and the Cumberland Basin.
Fort Beausejour was named after an
early settler, construction started in April of
1751. Lieutenant Gaspart-Joseph de Lery was
in charge of the construction phase. The Fort
consisted of palisade walls in the shape of a pentagon
with fiove metre high earthwork and bastions at the
angles.
By 1754 Fort Beausejour was a
much more substantial structure then the nearby Fort
Lawrence. Fort Beausejour had four inside
casements, a powder magazine, barracks, officer quarters,
and could house 800 men. On the outskirts of the
fortress there homes, stores, a hospital, and a church.
Fort Beausejour was captured by the
English on June 16, 1755 and was renamed Fort
Cumberland. The fortress saw action during the Eddy
Rebellion of 1776 but was abandoned in 1835.
It was restored in the1920's and is one of the province's
most important historic sites.