The authentic story of her country and her people By John F. Herbin Illustrated in color and black and white. With Evangeline By H. W. Longfellow TORONTO THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY LIMITED Copyright, Canada, 1921 THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY. LTD. PUBLISHERS TORONTO Third Edition 10th Thousand Musson ALL CANADIAN PRODUCTION Evangeline’s Well Evangeline’s Land is romantic and beautiful at any time, but in apple-blossom time it is adorable; a riot of blossom everywhere, of purest white, cream and shell pi

While the name Grand-Pré was given in general to the Minas country south and alongside the Cornwallis River, the village of the name was adjoining the Memorial Park land. It had twenty-three inhabitants living upon three farms. The cellars of the three homes may be seen to-day. The largest was on the west side of the Park. The other two, upon the gentle slope south. They were the properties of Pierre Landry, Jean le Sour, and Jacques Terriot—all prominent and prosperous men in the little communi

Perhaps before entering directly upon the historical aspects of the Evangeline country, it would be interesting to know something of its outstanding families, members of which figured prominently in the later history of the place. The three most picturesque and important persons in the history of the Minas country are Pierre Melanson, Pierre Terriot, and René LeBlanc....

In a census of the Port Royal people, made in 1671, the name Pierre Melanson appears, but with no account of his family or possessions. He refused to give the facts asked for. There has been some doubt as to his antecedents, although he was a man of importance, and his name appears in several historical documents. Some think he was the son of the Scotchman, Pierre Melanson, who remained in Acadia after the colony under Sir William Alexander was broken up in 1632. It has been ascertained, however

The next colonist who came to establish himself in Minas was Pierre Terriot from Port Royal. He is an important and interesting figure in the history of the country. His coming dates but a short time after Pierre Melanson’s arrival. Terriot selected the fine situation near Kentville, upon the present Cornwallis River, with natural conditions similar to the Gaspereau Valley. Good upland for farms, and extensive areas of marsh near the head of the tidal stream, afforded favorable means for the dev

Among the later arrivals were the Le Blancs, whose children added considerably to the growth of population, and whose importance and prosperity make them outstanding persons in the country. The first Le Blanc was Daniel, born in France in 1626. Thousands of his descendants are to be found in America to-day. He arrived in Acadia in 1650, with his wife, Françoise Gaudet. He settled in Port Royal about nine miles above the fort. When that place fell to the English under Phipps, in 1690, Le Blanc wa

In the census made of Minas in 1618, about five years after Pierre Melanson’s advent to the Gaspereau, the families of are mentioned with particulars of their worldly condition and size of family. Three of the Minas inhabitants mentioned on the 1686 list, de la Bove, la Pierre, and Rivet, were newcomers to Acadia, and for some reason failed to make headway in the country. Their descendants were few, and the names disappear from the annals....

The Melansons’, Terriots’, and Le Blancs’ holdings all extended east or west, south of the Cornwallis River. North of this stream, another section was expanding, but more slowly, although conditions were favorable there for colonization. As the Canard region become populated, crossings were made to reach the villages at low tide over the Cornwallis River. A road was made connecting the up-river settlements with Grand-Pré to the Gaspereau, where the principal centre of Minas developed, with its c

The French colonists of Nova Scotia were constantly subjected to attacks by British colonial forces. In 1613, Port Royal, again in 1654, La Have, and in 1700, Minas were razed and completely destroyed by these armies. The older Acadians and their sons, accustomed to the conditions of the country, quickly recovered from these attacks. The later comers, however, were not so well fitted to cope with the difficulties of the new life, and the new names died out or did not increase so quickly as the o

The poem, Evangeline, tells the story of the 5th of September, 1755, and what followed. As the crops were to be gathered early in that dry year, this date was fixed upon for summoning the men and boys of the district to the church to receive their brutal orders—to hear the proclamation declaring them prisoners of the Crown; their homes, their lands, their holdings, confiscate. It was a bitter time for both those who spoke and heard. It is not difficult to imagine the emotion of Lieutenant-Colone

Two rather interesting incidents in connection with the Deportation which have come to notice, follow. Although all records of births, deaths, etc., were destroyed or in part lost, one of the Piziquid exiles carried the deed of his grandfather’s property with him to Philadelphia. The writer saw this document in 1920, still held by a descendant as a precious relic. René Le Blanc, mentioned above as figuring in history, came to notice at this time in the following manner. Winslow, evidently touche

The memory of the courageous heart-high peasantry that first peopled and made home of a wilderness, remains fresh in the present-day Acadia. The garden-plots cleared upon the uplands near their homes, their orchards laid out in rugged rows, still bloom for us who know that country. We still find the roads leading to the dykes by the rivers, even traces of the trails originally reaching back to the wild pastures; the dykes upon which so much time and labor were expended season after season—an ard

There is a close connection between the story which supplied the basis of the poem, Evangeline, and the Acadian people. In 1838, Hawthorne entered in his Note-Books the following: “H. L. C.—Heard from a French-Canadian a story of a young couple in Acadie. On their marriage day all the men of the Province were summoned to assemble in the church to hear a proclamation. When assembled, they were seized and shipped off to be distributed through New England, among them the new bridegroom. His bride s

Another name to be perpetuated by history is Acadie, or Acadia as it is known at the present time. Whether we accept the statement or not that the Italian navigator, Verrazano, who explored the American coast as far as New York, called the country “Arcadie”, because of the magnificence of the trees, there will be preference for the Micmac Indian origin of the name, “Acadie.” The country was visited by Breton and Basque fishermen a hundred years before the settlement of Port Royal in 1605. From t

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The Blue Boat The two or three rivers which flow into the Basin of Minas at Five Islands are all picturesque with their old fishing boats stranded high and dry or afloat. It is fascinating to watch the great schooners make their way up on the tide to some lumber mill or wharf a mile or so inland, where at low tide even the smallest boat can scarcely pass. There is a fascination, too, in the tides, as they race over the great flat stretches—a steady onward flow, swift and relentless, till the wat

BLOMIDON—LOW TIDE Showing the path of the retreating water from the land. At high tide the water reaches up the cliffs, covering marsh and filling stream . . . . GASPEREAU RIVER AND BLOMIDON Scene of the Deportation. THE STONE CROSS...

EVANGELINE From the painting. SCOTCH COVENANTER CHURCH Built at Grand-Pré—1805. VILLAGE SMITHY—GRAND-PRÉ....

THE EVANGELINE STATUE The statue stands upon the old road by which the people reached the church. It is the work of Philippe Hebert, himself a descendant of the Acadian family of the name . . . . ORIGINAL ACADIAN WILLOW-TREES....