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English: This is built over the original well of the icehouse built about 1720. Filled in winter from the pond nearby, the straw insulation kept ice and perishable foods during the summer. By Royal edict, the doorways faced north and were opened only after sunset.

The yellow house in the background is the De la Plagne Property.

Pierre-Paul d’Espiet de la Plagne, who owned this house in the 1740s, was the son and nephew of garrison officers. His kinship ties extended throughout the colonial elite, and he received choice postings around the colony. De la Plagne sometimes used his troops as domestiques in his home. A young soldier called La Fleur who worked at the house later used the knowledge he had and in 1740 he robbed his captain of a few coins. It was not a planned theft, swift discovery and conviction saw the soldier branded and whipped through the streets.

The house has a timber frame beneath its siding - only the adjoining storehouse is masonry. There are two chimneys. In houses that were often partitioned into many small rooms, fireplaces meant heat. The location of the fireplaces can give a indication about the comfort of each room.

After the first siege of Louisbourg, de la Plagne retired to his estates in southwestern France. His reconstructed home houses an exhibit on the important relationship between the French colonists and their Mi’kmaw allies. Here you can learn about the military and cultural connections between these peoples and about the modern Mi’kmaw community in Cape Breton.