Grand Pré: Exhibiting Acadian Life

 Grand Pré  means Great Meadow

The French colonizing Acadia were very good at growing farms and big families. As the population grew the next generations of Acadians settled up the Annapolis River valley.  At Grand Pré located along the Bay of Fundy these farmers began diking the tides to dry the marshes to make arable farm land.  

These marsh landscapes are part of the Bay of Fundy basin, a region is famous for its gigantic tides.  It has been a prime agriculture area for centuries, in large part because these French settlers  built an very effective dike system to control the shifting water. Now the area is famous for its wineries and has an aspect that is not unlike Sonoma, but with a much deeper history. 

Many of these colonists migrated from the La Rochelle area of France, where the tradition of dike building and water management was not new to them. They brought their expertise and traditions of community cooperation to convert  marsh to  meadow. Because the settlers way of life did not compete with the native Miq mak tribe's way of life, the relations with the Indians were good. 

Reading our family tree this pattern of migrating north holds true.  Jean Tibodeau and wife Marguerite Hebert were both born in Port Royal (later called Annapolis Royal) but died in the northern settlement of Grand Pré. Thomas Cormier 1636 was married in 1666 to Marie Madeleine Girouard but died in the far north settlement of Beaubassin.   

Parks Canada has created a visitor center at Grand Pré that exhibits the settlement history and demonstrates the dike building methods. A film tells the story of the Grand Dérangment and how the entire Acadian community at Grand Pré (except for the renegades who fled into the woods) was rounded up, loaded into ships and sent in small groups to the American Colonies. This "great and noble scheme" as it was called by the British suits in Nova Scotia was executed to rid the region of troublesome French, and to make it easier to overpower the indian tribes. It also had the added dividend of aquiring rich farmlands that could support the British efforts in the new world.  

As outlandish as the idea of expelling 10,000 French speaking subjects from lands they had tended for more than a century was, it worked.  Within a few years the area was repopulated with loyal protestant Brits and Yankees from New England. People who worshiped the right God, and saluted the right flag.

At Parcs Canada Visitor Centres all signs are posted in French and English.

Grand Pré is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. What does that mean exactly?

According to Wikipedia: "A World Heritage site is a landmark or area which is selected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as having cultural,[1] historical, scientific or other form of significance, and is legally protected by international treaties. The sites are judged important to the collective interests of humanity. To be selected, a World Heritage Site must be an already classified landmark, unique in some respect as a geographically and historically identifiable place having special cultural or physical significance (such as an ancient ruin or historical structure, building, city, complex, desert, forest, island, lake, monument, mountain, or wilderness area). It may signify a remarkable accomplishment of humanity, and serve as evidence of our intellectual history on the planet." 

Sources:

Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia - Wikipedia

Parks Canada - Grand-Pré National Historic Site of Canada

Landscape of Grand Pré - UNESCO World Heritage Centre