Port-Royal National Historic Site

Description:

• Canada's first permanent settlement, Port Royal was located on an attractive point with sweeping views of the Annapolis Basin. After spending the dreadful winter of 1604 on an island in the St. Croix River (along the current Maine-New Brunswick border), the survivors moved to this better-protected location. Settlers lived here for 8 years in a high style that approached decadent given the harsh surroundings. Many of the handsome, compact, French-style farmhouse buildings were designed by Samuel de Champlain to re-create the comfort they might have enjoyed at home.

  Although the original settlement was abandoned and eventually destroyed, this 1939 reproduction is convincing in all the details. You'll find a handful of costumed interpreters engaged in traditional handicrafts like woodworking, and they're happy to fill you in on life in the colony during those difficult early years, an "age of innocence" when the French first forged an alliance with local natives. Allow 1 or 2 hours to wander and explore.

• © Frommer's 2012

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Recommended 2010