Grand Pre, Nova Scotia
Encyclopedia
Grand-Pré is a Canadian
rural community in Kings County
, Nova Scotia
. Its French name translates to "Great Meadow" and the community lies at the eastern edge of the Annapolis Valley
several kilometres east of the town of Wolfville
on a peninsula jutting into the Minas Basin
, framed by the Gaspereau and Cornwallis River
s. The community was made famous by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
's poem Evangeline
and is today home to the Grand-Pré National Historic Site.
settlers who traveled east from Champlain
's original settlement in Port-Royal Annapolis Royal in 1680. The settlement grew and developed great expanses of tidal marsh as productive farmland.
, New Englander Ranger Benjamin Church, in retaliation for the French Raid on Deerfield, burned the village in the Raid on Grand Pré
. In this raid, Church and his rangers got stuck on the mud flats of Baie Francais (Bay of Fundy), which gave the Mi'kmaq and Acadians time to position themselves to fiercely defend the village. They were eventually overwhelmed and Church burned the village and the fields.
, a French force led by Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Roch de Ramezay
defeated a larger British force in a night raid at the Battle of Grand Pré
. This battle was the most significant and bloodiest victory for the French in Acadia. The village, however, remained in British control once the French retreated.
, the Acadians at Grand Pre played a significant role in supporting the Acadian Exodus
out of mainland Nova Scotia, which started in 1749. Grand Pre willingly responded to the call from Le Loutre for basic food stuffs. The bread basket of the region, they raised wheat and other grains, produced flour in no fewer than eleven mills, and sustained herds of several thousand head of cattle, sheep and hogs. Regular cattle droves made their way over a road from Cobequid to Tatamagouche for the supply of Fort Beausejour
, Louisbourg, and settlements on Ile St. Jean (Prince Edward Island
). Other exports went by sea from Minas Basin to Isthmus of Chignecto
or to the mouth of the St. John River, carried in Acadian vessels by Acadian middlemen. The Acadians from Grand Pre also offered their labour to those at Isthmus of Chignecto
to build a church and dykes.
in the area during Father Le Loutre’s War, which was attacked by the Acadians and Mi'kmaq in the Siege of Grand Pre
. The siege lasted for a week and the 300 natives took prisoners who remained in captivity for almost two years. Eventually the Mi'kmaq retreated.
During the French and Indian War
, the Acadians were expelled from Grand Pré during the Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755)
. There were various British soldiers who kept a journal of the deportation from Grand Pré such as Jeremiah Bancroft
. The site of Grand Pre during the expulsion was later immortalized by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
with his epic poem Evangeline
.
Acadians from Grand Pré were dispersed in many locations and some eventually returned to other parts of the Canadian Maritimes such as Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and New Brunswick. Many Acadians expelled from the Grand Pré area eventually settled in the New England States and in South Louisiana
in the United States
. In Louisiana, the term Cajun
evolved from the name Acadian.
in 1760 and renamed Horton. A large townsite was laid out at Grand Pre but merchants and shop owners congregated at nearby Wolfville instead, leaving Grand Pre to continue as a farming community. One of the Planter descendants was Sir Robert Laird Borden, the eighth Prime Minister of Canada
, who was born in Grand-Pré in 1854. Grand Pre continued as a rich and productive but small farming community until the 1920s when the Dominion Atlantic Railway
developed the Grand Pre memorial park to attract tourists. While agriculture remained Grand Pre's major industry, the park made the community a tourism destination as well as a memorial to the Acadian people. The Park eventually became a National Historic Site and in 1957 was purchased by the Canadian Park Service
.
coffee company headquarters is located in the town and is something of a tourist attraction. Evangeline Beach is a famous stopover for thousands of migrating shore birds and is also a fine vantage point for watching the ebb and flow of the world's highest tides.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
rural community in Kings County
Kings County, Nova Scotia
Kings County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.Kings County is located in central Nova Scotia on the shore of the Bay of Fundy with its northeastern part also forming the western shore of the Minas Basin....
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
. Its French name translates to "Great Meadow" and the community lies at the eastern edge of the Annapolis Valley
Annapolis Valley
The Annapolis Valley is a valley and region in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is located in the western part of the Nova Scotia peninsula, formed by a trough between two parallel mountain ranges along the shore of the Bay of Fundy.-Geography:...
several kilometres east of the town of Wolfville
Wolfville, Nova Scotia
Wolfville is a small town in the Annapolis Valley, Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada, located about northwest of the provincial capital, Halifax. As of 2006, the population was 3,772....
on a peninsula jutting into the Minas Basin
Minas Basin
The Minas Basin is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy and a sub-basin of the Fundy Basin located in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is known for its extremely high tides.- Geography :- Boundary :...
, framed by the Gaspereau and Cornwallis River
Cornwallis River
The Cornwallis River is a river in Nova Scotia, Canada.It has a meander length of approximately 48 km from its source on the North Mountain near Berwick to its mouth near Wolfville on the Minas Basin. The lower portion of the river is tidal and there are extensive tidal marshes in the lower...
s. The community was made famous by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
's poem Evangeline
Evangeline
Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie, is an epic poem published in 1847 by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The poem follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians.The idea for the poem came from...
and is today home to the Grand-Pré National Historic Site.
History
Grand-Pré was founded by AcadianAcadian
The Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...
settlers who traveled east from Champlain
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain , "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608....
's original settlement in Port-Royal Annapolis Royal in 1680. The settlement grew and developed great expanses of tidal marsh as productive farmland.
Raid on Grand Pre (1704)
During Queen Anne's WarQueen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War , as the North American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession was known in the British colonies, was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought between France and England, later Great Britain, in North America for control of the continent. The War of the...
, New Englander Ranger Benjamin Church, in retaliation for the French Raid on Deerfield, burned the village in the Raid on Grand Pré
Raid on Grand Pre
The Raid on Grand Pré was the major action of a raiding expedition conducted by New England militia Colonel Benjamin Church against French Acadia in June 1704, during Queen Anne's War...
. In this raid, Church and his rangers got stuck on the mud flats of Baie Francais (Bay of Fundy), which gave the Mi'kmaq and Acadians time to position themselves to fiercely defend the village. They were eventually overwhelmed and Church burned the village and the fields.
Battle of Grand Pre (1747)
During King George's WarKing George's War
King George's War is the name given to the operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession . It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in the British provinces of New York, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia...
, a French force led by Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Roch de Ramezay
Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Roch de Ramezay
Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Roch, seigneur de Ramezay, born September 4, 1708, in Montreal, and died May 7, 1777, in Blaye , was an officer of the marines and colonial administrator for New France during the 17th century...
defeated a larger British force in a night raid at the Battle of Grand Pré
Battle of Grand Pré
The Battle of Grand Pré, also known as the Battle of Minas, was a battle in King George's War that took place between British and French forces near present-day Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia in the winter of 1747 during the War of the Austrian Succession...
. This battle was the most significant and bloodiest victory for the French in Acadia. The village, however, remained in British control once the French retreated.
Acadian Exodus (1749-1755)
During Father Le Loutre's WarFather Le Loutre's War
Father Le Loutre’s War , also known as the Indian War, the Micmac War and the Anglo-Micmac War, took place between King George's War and the French and Indian War in Acadia and Nova Scotia. On one side of the conflict, the British and New England colonists were led by British Officer Charles...
, the Acadians at Grand Pre played a significant role in supporting the Acadian Exodus
Acadian Exodus
The Acadian Exodus happened during Father Le Loutre’s War and involved almost half of the total Acadian population of Nova Scotia deciding to relocate to French controlled territories...
out of mainland Nova Scotia, which started in 1749. Grand Pre willingly responded to the call from Le Loutre for basic food stuffs. The bread basket of the region, they raised wheat and other grains, produced flour in no fewer than eleven mills, and sustained herds of several thousand head of cattle, sheep and hogs. Regular cattle droves made their way over a road from Cobequid to Tatamagouche for the supply of Fort Beausejour
Fort Beauséjour
Fort Beauséjour, was built during Father Le Loutre's War from 1751-1755; it is located at the Isthmus of Chignecto in present-day Aulac, New Brunswick, Canada...
, Louisbourg, and settlements on Ile St. Jean (Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
). Other exports went by sea from Minas Basin to Isthmus of Chignecto
Isthmus of Chignecto
The Isthmus of Chignecto is an isthmus bordering the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia which connects the Nova Scotia peninsula with North America....
or to the mouth of the St. John River, carried in Acadian vessels by Acadian middlemen. The Acadians from Grand Pre also offered their labour to those at Isthmus of Chignecto
Isthmus of Chignecto
The Isthmus of Chignecto is an isthmus bordering the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia which connects the Nova Scotia peninsula with North America....
to build a church and dykes.
Siege of Grand Pre (1749)
The British built Fort Vieux LogisFort Vieux Logis
The site of Fort Vieux Logis is in present-day Hortonville, Nova Scotia, Canada and was built during Father Le Loutre's War. The fort was created to help prevent the Acadian Exodus from the region. The site of the fort is on the field where the Acadian Cross and the New England Planters monument...
in the area during Father Le Loutre’s War, which was attacked by the Acadians and Mi'kmaq in the Siege of Grand Pre
Siege of Grand Pre
The Siege of Grand Pre happened during Father Le Loutre’s War and was fought between the British and a militia made up of Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, and Acadians. The siege happened at Fort Vieux Logis, Grand Pre...
. The siege lasted for a week and the 300 natives took prisoners who remained in captivity for almost two years. Eventually the Mi'kmaq retreated.
Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755)
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
, the Acadians were expelled from Grand Pré during the Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755)
Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755)
The Bay of Fundy Campaign occurred during the French and Indian War when the British ordered the Expulsion of the Acadians from Acadia after the Battle of Beausejour . The Campaign started at Chignecto and then quickly moved to Grand Pré, Rivière-aux-Canards, Pisiguit, Cobequid, and finally Port...
. There were various British soldiers who kept a journal of the deportation from Grand Pré such as Jeremiah Bancroft
Jeremiah Bancroft
Jeremiah Bancroft was born in Reading, Massachusetts, on July 27, 1725 and died there from smallpox on November 25, 1757. Bancroft was an ensign in the French and Indian War. Bancroft is best known for the diary he kept of his account of the fall of Fort Beausejour and the Expulsion of the Acadians...
. The site of Grand Pre during the expulsion was later immortalized by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
with his epic poem Evangeline
Evangeline
Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie, is an epic poem published in 1847 by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The poem follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians.The idea for the poem came from...
.
Acadians from Grand Pré were dispersed in many locations and some eventually returned to other parts of the Canadian Maritimes such as Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and New Brunswick. Many Acadians expelled from the Grand Pré area eventually settled in the New England States and in South Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. In Louisiana, the term Cajun
Cajun
Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
evolved from the name Acadian.
New England Planters
After the deportation of the Acadians, the vacant lands were resettled by New England PlantersNew England Planters
The New England Planters were settlers from the New England colonies who responded to invitations by the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence, to settle lands left vacant by the Bay of Fundy Campaign of the Acadian Expulsion...
in 1760 and renamed Horton. A large townsite was laid out at Grand Pre but merchants and shop owners congregated at nearby Wolfville instead, leaving Grand Pre to continue as a farming community. One of the Planter descendants was Sir Robert Laird Borden, the eighth Prime Minister of Canada
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
, who was born in Grand-Pré in 1854. Grand Pre continued as a rich and productive but small farming community until the 1920s when the Dominion Atlantic Railway
Dominion Atlantic Railway
The Dominion Atlantic Railway was a historic Canadian railway which operated in the western part of Nova Scotia, primarily through an agricultural district known as the Annapolis Valley....
developed the Grand Pre memorial park to attract tourists. While agriculture remained Grand Pre's major industry, the park made the community a tourism destination as well as a memorial to the Acadian people. The Park eventually became a National Historic Site and in 1957 was purchased by the Canadian Park Service
Parks Canada
Parks Canada , also known as the Parks Canada Agency , is an agency of the Government of Canada mandated to protect and present nationally significant natural and cultural heritage, and foster public understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment in ways that ensure their ecological and commemorative...
.
Today
Today, Grand-Pré is the home the Grand-Pré National Historic Site which is now a national park administered by Parks Canada to commemorate the Acadian people and their deportation. One of Nova Scotia's best known wineries, Domaine de Grand Pré, is located in the community. Grand-Pré is also Canada's first designated Historic Rural District. The Just Us!Just Us!
Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op is a Canadian importer of fair trade coffee, tea, sugar, and chocolate. Based in Grand Pré, Nova Scotia, Just Us! products are sold throughout Canada, typically in shops specializing in fair trade goods such as Ten Thousand Villages...
coffee company headquarters is located in the town and is something of a tourist attraction. Evangeline Beach is a famous stopover for thousands of migrating shore birds and is also a fine vantage point for watching the ebb and flow of the world's highest tides.