We continue to explore the wonders of Nova Scotia.On Day 19 (Thursday, August 1, 2013) we left Hilden/Truro, NS and headed to the area known as The Bay of Fundy and Annapolis Valley. This area is the birthplace of Acadia and a heated battleground for over 100 years involving the French, the British, the Scotch, and the Algonquin Indians, but never the Acadians who tried to maintain neutrality throughout. The first French came to this area in 1604. The establishment at Port Royal was the second European settlement, St. Augustine in Florida being the first. Jamestown would have to wait another 4 years.
We stopped on the trip from Hilden to Annapolis Royal in Grand Pre (pronouncer "pray") and visited the Grand Pre National Historic Park, operated by Park Canada, the national park service. This site, like others, is dedicated to preserving the history of the Acadian people and documenting their expulsion from this area.
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| I know there's a needle in there somewhere! |
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Evangeline was the creation of Longfellow. Yet her character has been
adopted by Acadians as a symbol of the struggles of early settlers. |
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| This was never a real church but built as historically accurate as possible. |
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| this inside of the chapel has panels with the names of some of those expelled |
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| The curators try to keep the gardens as authentic as possible, only growing plants that were in use then |
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| Yuk, beets! |
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| Much of the land was reclaimed from the sea by a system of dykes. |
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| The early settlers were both French Protestants (Huguenots) and Catholics. There was both a Catholic priest and a Protestan minister among the early arrivals. These two fought so much that when they both died during the second winter here the towns people buried them together, |
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| The Grand Pre National Historic Park is a total recreation of a typical early settlement. In building the recreation Park Canada used only materials and techniques then available (except for code requirements). |
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| The gathering place |
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| Our Park Canada guide is wearing a felt hat in the original style, but without the mercury that made "mad hatters". His shirt is linen, made from flax, and his pants and socks are woolen. A beaver fur, used to make felt, is on the table |
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| The wooden shoes, forerunners of Crocs, had a useful purpose in that work that the settlers did. They were called "sabot" in French and when, at some later time, some factory workers wanted to protest their treatment by management they threw their wooded shoes into the machinery at the factory and invented "sabotage". |
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| This gentleman is wearing period clothing and using period instruments to turn a dow. |
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| Add caption |
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| The First Nation (Indians) taught the Acadians how to make these canoes. The Mi'kmaq tribes in the area were extremely friendly and helpful to the new French settlers. It does not appear that there was any conlict. They were firends and intermarried. Well, I should point out, the French men came here without women! |
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| Nails were made one at a time by the blacksmith and were therefore very expensive. Most of the construction in the original buildings and these recreations wee done without nails. But if you were rich and wanted to be sure everyone knew it, you used these expensive nails just for decoration in your door. |
Our next stop was in the Royal Historical Botanical Gardens in Annapolis Royal, NS., a fairytale land if ever there was one.
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| The Big Bad Wolf would never be able to blow down this little cottage in the woods. |
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| Gigantic white hydrangeas. |
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| If anyone knows what these are please tell me. |
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Adam and Eve in the Garden of Annapolis.
I'm sorry I didn't get the sculptor's name. |
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| The yellow building behind Evangeline houses a German restaurant where we had a delightful lunch. |
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| Across the street from the German restaurant is Fort Anne National Historic Site. This is Canada's oldest historic site. The fort was built by the French but alter occupied by the British. No, this is not a Currier & Ives. |
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| Ehe main fortification is earth. The entire Fort is laid out in a star shape which makes every part of it defensible from somewhere else. The earthen walls also resist canon fire and make it hard for the enemy to storm inside. |
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| A period version of the Union Jack |
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This photo should be worth $4 million! Don't believe me? Look at his one that sold for $4.3 million, the second most expensive photograph ever sold. I think mine is better so maybe I can get $5 million. (Click Here)
Just send me a message if you want to purchase this photo. |
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| A poster shows the layout of the fort. The earthen walls also make the fort difficult to see fro the water. |
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| Rosie is so embarrassed when she sees such signs. Like she needs to be told this! |
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| The Port Royal Habitation |
Tomorrow we leave for another UNESCO World Heritage Site, Lunenburg, NS. See you there!
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