"Sat by some nameless grave, and thought that perhaps in its bosom
He was already at rest; and she longed to slumber beside him."
Grand-Pré, the home of Evangeline, seldom fails to impress the stranger,
who sees it for the first time, with a sense of its rich loveliness. It
would be difficult to find a more delightful setting for the story of
the Acadian maiden, separated from her betrothed lover, Gabriel, and
sent into exile with her people.
The country fronting the present Grand-Pré is broadly open to the Basin
of Minas. The dyked marshes extend for miles in blocks of pasture,
grain, and haylands. Great creeks which once the mighty tides of the Bay
of Fundy filled till the meadows were submerged with the turbid waters;
red channels of the winding rivers beyond; and the great stretch of the
Basin of Minas, purple-fringed by the distant hills, all combine to make
this an idyllic setting.
At the time of the Deportation of the Acadians, in 1755, most of the
farm land, flanked by the dyked meadows, from the Gaspereau River to
Kentville, held the villages and small hamlets of the people. Upon the
descending slopes on both sides of the Gaspereau Valley that lies south
of Grand-Pré, other populous villages, pastures and farms, clustered as
far as the present village of the name, Gaspereau.
North and west, as far as Pereau, under the North Mountain, the rich
Acadian country of Canard lay upon the banks of the four rivers,
fronting always the meadows of marsh that spread away from the swift
tidal streams.
This was the Minas country of the Acadian period, divided into two
parishes, Grand-Pré and Canard, separated by the present Cornwallis
River. In 1750, five years before the removal of the inhabitants, Minas
had a population of four thousand. There were thirty-five villages,
named after the original founders who came from Port Royal--Gaspereau
and Grand-Pré were the only exceptions.
Upon the Grand-Pré meadows may be seen the thirteen sections of dykes
raised from time to time, till the whole extent of marsh became
enclosed. It was a laborious work for the people, who numbered only four
hundred in 1700. Most of the marshes were enclosed during the following
forty years as the families grew to manhood, and new settlers came. Upon
these lands they had their pastures, hay and grain areas fenced in. Upon
the undyked marshes they cut the coarse salt grass.
As the forest lands were cleared of wood, they were used as pastures.
Beyond these, stretched the primeval forests on all sides. Orchards of
apple and pear, and garden plots lay near the homes. Fish were abundant
in the sea beyond. By boat the settlers were able to pass from place to
place, for the rivers made convenient ways for travel.