Digital Louisbourg: A 3D Reconstruction of the Fortress of Louisbourg (1750)

An interactive 3D model, virtual tour and research archive for the Fortress of Louisbourg in Cape Beeton Nova Scotia, Canada. As it was in 1750 as A french fortified town before it was destroyed by the British in 1758. Made entirely on Google SketchUp.

In Association With:

The reason I started building this model is pretty simple. I wanted to see Louisbourg as it actually looked when it was a living French town, not just the small section we see today. Only 1/4th of the original fortress has been reconstructed at the site. The other 3/4th were never rebuilt, mainly because the reconstruction would be an enormous and expensive project. Much of the original town is now archaeological ground that Parks Canada works to preserve rather than rebuild.

— La raison pour laquelle j’ai entrepris la construction de cette maquette est assez simple. Je voulais voir Louisbourg telle qu’elle était réellement lorsqu’elle était une ville française animée, et non seulement la petite partie que l’on voit aujourd’hui. Seul un quart de la forteresse d’origine a été reconstruit sur le site. Les trois autres quarts n’ont jamais été restaurés, principalement en raison du coût exorbitant de la reconstruction. Une grande partie de la ville d’origine est désormais un site archéologique que Parcs Canada s’efforce de préserver plutôt que de reconstruire.—

King’s Bastion — Fortress of Louisbourg 3D Model

This model is the first/one of a growing collection of individually reconstructed buildings from the Fortress of Louisbourg.

The goal of the series is to eventually create a complete digital reconstruction of the fortified town, harbour, batteries, streets, and surrounding landscape of 18th-century Louisbourg.

This project represents an effort to digitally preserve and reimagine Louisbourg as it appeared at the height of its development in the 18th century, allowing modern audiences to experience the scale and complexity of the original fortified town. 

—_{Ce projet représente un effort de préservation et de réinvention numérique de Louisbourg telle qu’elle apparaissait à l’apogée de son développement au XVIIIe siècle, permettant aux publics modernes de découvrir l’ampleur et la complexité de la ville fortifiée d’origine.}—

Rebuilt polygon by polygon in Google SketchUp as it was in 1750.

–Reconstitution polygonale par polygone dans Google SketchUp, telle qu’elle était en 1750.–

Platform Engine: Google SketchUp 2026 / 1:1 Scale Precision 

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To ensure historical accuracy, the reconstruction is based on a combination of historical maps and blueprints, LiDAR terrain data, archaeological and heritage documentation, and contemporary photographic references. Existing reconstructed buildings were cross referenced using Google Street View imagery, while historical plans and elevation drawings were used to model structures that no longer exist. LiDAR data was utilized to accurately position walls, earthworks, streets, and other landscape features within the digital environment.

Afin de garantir l’exactitude historique, la reconstitution repose sur une combinaison de cartes et de plans anciens, de données topographiques LiDAR, de documents archéologiques et patrimoniaux, ainsi que de références photographiques contemporaines. Les bâtiments existants reconstruits ont été comparés aux images de Google Street View, tandis que les plans et les élévations historiques ont servi à modéliser les structures disparues. Les données LiDAR ont permis de positionner avec précision les murs, les terrassements, les rues et les autres éléments du paysage dans l’environnement numérique.

3D Renderings of The King’s Bastion and Frederic Gate © 2026 Avalon Design Studio

“In 1961, the Government of Canada began a $25 million project aimed at reconstructing approximately one-quarter of the original town and fortifications. Within this area the buildings, yards, gardens and streets are being recreated as they were during the 1740s, immediately preceding Louisbourg’s first siege. Almost all of the buildings on site are reconstructions built between the 1960s and 1980s, though many incorporate original foundations. Abandoned after 1763, Louisbourg became the only major colonial town without a modern city built on top of it.” The reconstructed site – Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site

https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/ns/louisbourg/decouvrir-discover/visite-tour

Watch the 3D Model Come To Life

How was it rebuilt? ..The sheer amount of surviving information

• Parks Canada Agency
• Date(s) 21-Jun-65
• Repository – Beaton Institute Archives
• Reference code – CA BI FOL-G3481

The French administration kept extensive bureaucratic records because Louisbourg was a major military, naval, commercial, and colonial centre.

Engineers and military surveyors produced architectural plans, elevations, sections, maps, and fortification drawings.

Government officials generated correspondence, reports, inventories, financial records, construction documents and military records.

Approximately 750,000 pages of historical documents and 500 maps and plans were copied from archives in France, England, Scotland, the United States and Canada during the research associated with the reconstruction.

Louisbourg wasn’t reconstructed because somebody remembered what it looked like. It was reconstructed because the people who built it left behind an extraordinary paper trail.

18th-century plan
↓
Archaeological foundation
↓
Construction record
↓
Inventory/property record
↓
Historical description
↓
Other contemporary map or drawing
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Modern reconstruction

Aerial photographs, King’s Bastion

• Repository – Beaton Institute Archives
• 1964 (Creation) Creator – Parks Canada Agency
• Reference code – CA BI FOL-A946

Resident Engineer, L. Vachon

• June, 1964 (Creation)CreatorParks Canada Agency
• Reference code – CA BI FOL-G1548
• Repository – Beaton Institute Archives

Eric Krause & Krause House

Eric Krause is an important figure in the modern study and reconstruction of the Fortress of Louisbourg. As a historian and historical records specialist with Parks Canada, Krause spent decades researching and organizing the extensive documentary record surrounding Louisbourg, including French maps, architectural plans, archival documents, military records, archaeological research, and information about the people who lived there.

His website, KrauseHouse.ca, preserves and makes accessible a remarkable collection of Louisbourg research, bringing together historical documents, timelines, maps, biographies, architectural information, and other resources that help researchers understand the original town.

http://www.krausehouse.ca/krause/FortressOfLouisbourgResearchWeb/FortressMaps/LMapsPlans.htm

• 1713: French colonists establish a settlement on Cape Breton Island (Île Royale) following the Treaty of Utrecht

• 1719–1720: Construction begins on the grand fortified town to protect the lucrative cod fishery and French trade routes.

• 1748: The fortress is handed back to France under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle

• 1758: British forces under General Jeffrey Amherst and Admiral Edward Boscawen besiege and recapture Louisbourg during the Seven Years’ War.

• 1760: British military engineers systematically demolish the fortifications to prevent future French reoccupation

• 1760–1763: Britain conquers New France.

• 1765: Britain is deeply in debt from the war. Britain taxes the Thirteen Colonies to recover costs.

• 1775: The American Revolution begins.
  

• 1928: The ruins are designated as a National Historic Site.

• 1961: The Canadian government launches a massive historical reconstruction project, rebuilding roughly one-quarter of the original town using original 18th-century-style techniques and blueprints.

• 2026: Daniel C. MacNeil Creates the Full Digital Reconstruction

The 1758 Siege of Louisbourg

In 1758, as part of the Seven Years’ War, Britain assembled roughly 15,000 troops, about 10,000 of them regulars, under Jeffrey Amherst to retake Louisbourg. Edward Boscawen commanded the naval force of roughly 160 vessels: 120 transports and auxiliary ships, 23 men-of-war and 16 smaller craft. His second in command, Hardy, was blockading the harbour by mid-April, and the whole force lay at anchor in Gabarus Bay by 2 June.

Wolfe’s batteries at Lighthouse Point opened fire on 19 June and had silenced the Island Battery by the evening of 25 June. Wolfe then returned around the harbour and commanded the left, or northernmost, attack against the fortress.

Read the full account in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, and see the Blupete pages on the regiments and fleets at Louisbourg in 1758.

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© 2026 Avalon Design Studio

_{The digital reconstruction of the Fortress of Louisbourg is an original creative and technical work by Daniel MacNeil / Avalon Design Studio. The 3D modeling, digital reconstruction, visualizations, artwork, presentation materials, documentary concepts, and original creative assets produced for this project are the intellectual property of Daniel MacNeil / Avalon Design Studio, unless otherwise credited or identified as third-party historical source material. The project is based on extensive historical research, archival documentation, period plans, maps, archaeological evidence, and publicly available historical records. Those historical sources remain the property of their respective institutions and creators.© 2026 Daniel MacNeil / Avalon Design Studio. All rights reserved. Please do not reproduce, modify, distribute, or commercially use the original digital reconstruction or project materials without permission.}