The Evangeline Trail

We began today (Thursday) in amazement.  With all the rain yesterday and last night, here was a beautiful cloudless blue sky…temps in the high 50’s…Wonderful.  We left the RV and Yarmouth and headed up Highway 1, The Evangeline Trail, to explore the history of the Acadians.  It’s a sad tale.

 

The Acadians settled here from France in the early 1600’s.  There was battle after battle between them and the English.  Finally in 1755, the Acadians were forced to either leave Nova Scotia or pledge allegiance to the crown.  Many left and were scattered to places all over Canada and the USA—some returned to France.  But many hid and managed to escape the deportation.  They suffered much hardship, but over the many years, some have returned and have regained a status in life here in Nova Scotia.  (this is my short, uneducated summation of long years of hardship for the Acadians)

 

Our first stop was to see the Cape St. Marie Lighthouse.  There is a narrow strip of land called Digby Neck that runs parallel to this area of Nova Scotia.  Between the mainland and Digby Neck is a narrow strait of water called Baie Sainte Marie or St. Mary’s Bay.  This area is where the Acadians came back to settle after they had been deported from NS in the 1700s.

 

We continued up the road through small settlements such as Meteghan, Sauinierville, Comeauville.  There were many, many beautiful churches along the route.  And it was all French.  Ronnie stopped at a “convenience” store to get us a coke and snack.  They all spoke French.  But he managed to get the coke.

 

These people take this for granted, I’m sure, but the  views they have are just gorgeous.  The houses are simple for the most part.  We’ve only seen a handful of brick homes; most are shake, shingled, wood or vinyl.  No 7-gabled roof, just a square boxy home, sort of a Cape Cod type, I think.  Ocassionally, you’ll see a Victorian with the curly-q trim.  Most are kept up nicely…some are a little run down, but I’m sure the salt water and wind are rough on exteriors.  We passed a house with a view of the Atlantic Ocean at their back door and they were sitting in lawn chairs on the road side of the house watching cars go by!!  The winters are cold and windy with not much snow, we were told.

 

We continued on to Church Point and stopped to visit the Sainte-Marie Church or the Elise Sainte-Marie.  It is North America’s largest and tallest wooden church. The spire rises 185 feet from the floor to the steeple.   Leo Melancon was hired in 1903 to build the church. 

It was magnificant. 

 

Sainte Anne Marie

Also in Church Point, we went to the Universite Sainte-Anne, the only French University in Canada.  On the campus was an extraordinary walk-through narrative on the history of the Acadians.  This was the Rendez-vous de la Baie.  Learned a lot…very interesting.

 

 

We continued down the road to Pointe-a-Major, the site where Pierre “Piau” Belliveau landed along with 100 other refuees in 1755 hiding out from the English during the deportation period.  It was a hard winter and many died.  There is a cemetery there with a small worship building  …some of the dates on the crosses dated back to the 1600’s. 

 

The next stop was at Saint-Bernard’s….a fabulous stone church which took 32 years to build….the granite had to be brought by oxen to the site and each piece was hand cut….one layer a year was laid until it was finished in 1942.  Amazingly beautiful church.  We went inside for a bit..there was soft music playing…very reverent…Saint Bernard’s and Saint Anne’s Churches were about the only Catholic Churches we saw and they were both absolutely beautiful inside.  High, high ceilings with much intricate designs.  Both were built in the shape of a cross. 

Saw this sign along the highway and felt like we were back home at Windy Ridge Farm...

 

 

 

 

Unisson at Around the Bend

Coming back down the highway tonight, we stopped at the Around the Bend Restaurant in Meteghan.  Throughout the summer/fall months they have Musique de la Baie (Music by the Sea) where local musicians will play at various restaurants around the area.  We chose this one because it was on our route home.  Wow.  Were we lucky.  The 3-piece band consisted of two guys and a girl…playing guitar and fiddle (she’d put the fiddle down and play the spoons or triangle on occasion).  They were excellent!!  So much talent, you couldn’t tell it wasn’t a full Cajun band.  We visited with Sebastion (the apparent leader) at break and talked about things Cajun….they played last year at the Festival Internationalle in Louisiana.  He had noticed Ronnie’s shirt (had an Arkansas badge on it) and they played Arkansas Traveler.  We requested one Cajun song and they immediately played it.  There was no dance floor, but we went to a little corner of the entry and found a little bit of room to dance.  Later, he went into one of his “orange-blossum special”-type songs and I spied our waitress in the kitchen clogging….had to go join her and had a ball.  The band couldn’t see us and one by one they leaned forward to see what everyone was looking at.  Don’t know what came over me.  But we played with the locals tonight and passed a good tyme.  Visited with a few of the folks in the restaurant and discovered several had been to Louisiana to visit friends several times.  I think there is great music and talent here, but it appears that no one dances....they just sit and listen.  Sorry, folks, my feets won't be still when I hear that kind of music.

View from the lighthouse.....
 

 

Tomorrow we leave for an overnight in Truro then on to Cape Breton.

Friday:  Just now getting this posted....boring, dark, dreary, misty (but not cold) day to get here at Scotia Pines RV...fairly decent park....lots of pines (not Arkansas pines).  We're getting some exercise, cleaning the RV and may go see if we can find the famous Tidal Bore when the tides come in later.