The Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia
Settled in 1680 by Acadians who had ventured out from the original French settlement in Port-Royal, Grand Pre, which means great meadow, has a history as rich as its dyke land soil. These settlers built the dykes which keep back the tides of the Minas Basin and created very fertile lands for crops and animals.
Grand-Pre grew to be the largest of all the Acadian settlements in the Annapolis Valley area. That is until September 5, 1755 when from the church in Grand-Pre the order was declared that all Acadians would be deported. From that date until 1763 more than 10 000 Acadians were deported from Nova Scotia.
Today Grand-Pre is a National Historic Site and it has had a memorial church built on the grounds which serves as a museum. Other notable sites are the Deportation Cross which was built to ensure memory of the deportation and a sculpture of Evangeline the main character in the famed poem by Henry Longfellow.
March 29th, 2011 5:39pm
August 31st, 2011 6:22pm