Church Point Nova Scotia

Church Point NS Poster by allicor
Browse other Ns Posters

Did you know that the Saint Marie or Saint Mary Church in Church Point Nova Scotia  is the largest wooden church in North America? It is located between Digby and Yarmouth in a village called Church Point. This church was begun in 1903 and it took a couple of years to build. It was built by a self taught carpenter named Leo Melanson  and around 1500 volunteer parisheners. I found Leo in the 1901 census age 32 with a wife and two daughters. Now around the time this church was being built were many Acadian families, in the 1901 census for Church Point, I found some Doucet,Daigle,Melansons,Chiasson,Mius,Dugas,Guidry,Gaudet,Belliveau,Boudreau,
Comeau, Leblanc,Maillet, Pothier,Richard,Thibodeau,Theriault,Saulniers and there were more Acadian names. I am sure many of these people must have been among the volunteers. The church has 41 stained glass windows. What they did not have for the church was imported from France such as the stained glass windows, the the bells . There is story about the paintings on the ceilings, apparently the artist was afraid of heights so before he would climb to paint he would drink a bottle of wine, then he would take a bottle up with him where he painted. Now how would you find this beautiful church? Well if you can find the Evangeline Trail it will lead to it, and the church is on the St Mary's University Grounds.  And if you are interested in the poster above, you can find it along with other church products in my church folder at
http://www.zazzle.com/allicor*    In the meantime ,thank you for stopping by, if you are not following me yet why don't you do so?
Have a great day
Aline

Something important happening at Grand Pre Nova Scotia

This is an event you don't want to miss. I would love to be there.
On September 5 2010 the Grand Pre Society is looking for volunteers for an Historical re-enactment of the assembling of 418 men and boys in the the Grand Pre Church on September 5 1755. At three o'clock in the afternoon on September 5, Lieutenant Colonel John Winslow read the order of the Deportation to the 418 Acadian men and boys who were being held prisoner in the church at Grand Pre which had been transformed into a command post.And so began the deportation of the inhabitants of the Grand Pre region. The last transport ship left Minas Basin on December 20 1755.
What was the size of the former Grand Pre church? The answer to this question will open more trails for the archeologists and historians who for centuries have been looking for traces of the ancient church Saint Charles des Mines in Grand Pre.
To attempt to answer this question, the Promotional Society of Grand Pre are organizing an activity that will allow the people to visualize the size of the church all the while participating in the living story. We know that 418 men and boys were in the church under the orders of Winslow when he gave the order with the assitant of an interpreter. Around 200 of these Acadians were held prisoner in the church for one month, while the others were held on board vessles.
The Society wants to recruit at least 418 persons who would like to participate in this historical re-enactment to be held in the Grand Pre church .Also present will be an archeologist,a historian and a photographer documenting this event. This living history re-enactment will be held in Grand Pre Sunday September 5 2010. The entrance to the national historical site of Grand Pre will be free for everyone. The people will be asked to present themselves at 130 pm so that they can be ready for 3 oclock for the annual lecture reading of the Order of Deportation. The ones participating are encouraged to wear a costume but it is not obligatory. The meeting will be followed by a commemorative walk from Grand Pre to the Deportation Cross around 2 km.
All the families wanting to participate are invited to sign up ahead of time.Send an email to
5sept1755@grand-pre.com. For more information on the activities taking place you can go to
http://www.grand-pre.com/ .
A brief rundown:
Everyone gathers in the church, they are trying to get the exact amount of people that was in the church.
At 3pm someone representing John Winslow will read the Order of Deportation followed by the raising of the flag.
At 3.30 pm  a Commemorative walk from the Memorial church to the Deportation Cross.
This is an event you don't want to miss, so mark the date down, and if you want to partipate send an email to the above address.
If you are interested in any acadian products like badges,and shirts,shoes,hats, check out my gallery at http://www.zazzle.com/allicor*.
Thanks for the lovely visit do stop by again.
Have a great day
Aline

Grand Pre Nova Scotia Announcement

========
TALKS at Grand-Pré Saturday, July 24, 2010 www.grand-pre.com
Thème: Land to Remember, Land to Settle Master of Ceremonies: Jean Gaudet
(1) PHILIPPE BASQUE 10:00 - 11:00 am (talk in French)
Monseigneur Auguste Allard, toujours pour l’église-souvenir
From his parish in Bathurst, Monsignor Allard (1884-1970) took an active part in projects related to the Memorial Church in Grand-Pré. Philippe Basque will talk about the dedication of this priest from East Bathurst to the Acadian cause and to Grand-Pré National Historic Site.
Philippe Basque has occupied the position of historian at the Village Historique Acadien in Caraquet since 2008. He ensures that this historic site is an accurate representation of Acadian life from 1770 to 1949. He is responsible for training the guides and ensuring the quality of the interpretative activities. He is also the editor of the journal Revue d’histoire de la Société Nicolas-Denys. (2) MAURICE BASQUE 11 h 00 - 12 h 00 (talk in French)
La Péninsule acadienne : histoire d’un peuplement pluriel In the late 18th century, the Acadian Peninsula became a new home for Acadian, British, French, and Loyalist settlers. Maurice Basque will examine the geopolitical and socioeconomic backdrop of this diverse population. He will show how the area known as Lower Gloucester gradually became the very heart of 20th century Acadian identity.
Before becoming the first director of the new Institut d’études acadiennes, the prominent historian Maurice Basque served as director of Acadian studies at the Université de Moncton for ten years. He has published numerous articles and books, including Histoire d’Otho Robichaud et de sa famille, notables acadiens de Port-Royal et de Néguac and Entre Baie et Péninsule : histoire de Néguac. He is the author of two chapters in the collective work The ‘Conquest’ of Acadia, 1710: Imperial, Colonial, and Aboriginal Constructions. He is a regular commentator on Radio-Canada.
~ LUNCH served on the premises, prepared by the Ami(e)s de Grand-Pré ($5.00) ~
(3) NADINE BELLIVEAU 12:45 - 1:00 (en français); 1:00 - 1:15 (en anglais) Mon jardin – piste de création / My Garden – a Creative Path
Professional artist Nadine Belliveau will give a short presentation in French and in English on the process that led her to create her painting called “My Garden.” A graduate of NSCAD, Nadine Belliveau taught in the Education Department at Université Sainte-Anne from 1980 to 2008 and has been exposing her paintings since 1974. Her gallery is located in Belliveau’s Cove. She is the artist in residence at Grand-Pré National Historic Site this summer. Her exhibit Tu es pierre : fondations d’une identité (You are stone, foundations of an identity) will be on display at Grand-Pré from July 23 to September 5. (4) JULIAN GWYN 1:30 - 2:30 pm (talk in English)
The Land and Sea for the Acadians and the New England Planters: Similarities and Differences
Julian Gwyn will offer a comparative study showing how two very different societies and cultures behaved successively while using the same soil and surrounding seas.
Professor emeritus at the University of Ottawa, Julian Gwyn taught British colonial history and early American history. He has published numerous books, including Excessive Expectations: Maritime Commerce and the Economic Development of Nova Scotia, 1740-1870. To mark the 250th anniversary of the massive arrival of the New England Planters, he has just published four booklets on the townships of Newport, Falmouth, Horton and Cornwallis, commissioned by the Kings Hants Heritage Connection. (5) PAUL DELANEY 2:30 - 3:30 pm (talk in English)
Winslow’s List Explained
Paul Delaney will examine Lieutenant Colonel John Winslow’s famous list of the Acadians living in the Grand-Pré area in 1755. He will discuss the nature and purpose of the list, the methodology he used to decipher it, and the new insights the study has yielded.
Professor of English at the Université de Moncton, Paul Delaney has been conducting research on the deportations of the Acadians for many years. His publications include: “The Pembroke Passenger List Reconstructed,” “The Acadians Deported from Chignectou to ‘les Carolines’ in 1755: Their Origins, Identities and Subsequent Movements,” and “The Chronology of the Deportations and Migrations of the Acadians, 1755-1816.” He is a member of the Acadian Odyssey Commission which established the project for the international commemoration of the Grand Dérangement.
6) Guided visit by Lary Brown: Trees of the Acadian Forest at Grand-Pré 4:15 pm
A graduate in forestry specializing in natural resource management, Lary Brown worked as a naturalist, interpreter and interpretation planner at Fundy, Kouchibouguac and Gros Morne National Parks. Since the 1990s, he has worked at Parks Canada as Natural and Cultural Heritage Resource manager for the Atlantic Region. www.grand-pre.com

Chezzetcook and Soldier's Cove

Hello everyone, first of all why did I mention Soldier's cove? Well my mother told me she remembers being there when she was little because her father had gotten a job there probably in a camp. Anyway Mom came across this photo among her photos ,this was a family from Soldier's Cove , she did not know anything about them so I posted it here hoping that some of you readers might just recognize the people. This would have been taken in the early 1900s.

Now let's change the subject, I was reading a book called The Acadians of Nova Scotia and inside I found the following about Chezzetcook Nova Scotia:"Several hundred Acadians were brought to Halifax as prisoners between 1758 and 1762. Some were deported and some were permitted to settle in various parts of the province. A certain number of these prisoners made their way across Halifax Harbor to Chezzetcook, maybe because of the Marshlands, but most likely because of the MicMac settlement known to French Missionaries for many years. Family names still common today in West Chezzetcook and Grand Desert which can be traced to those former prisoners are Boudreau,Bellefontaine,LaPierre and Wolfe. Despite of the appearance of the surname Wolfe ,it is a french name.Augustin wolfe was born in Alsace France in 1721 and appears in 1751 in Halifax as a colonist.Besides the prisoners there was another group of Acadians all whom had been living in Cape Breton and were giving permission to settle in Chezzetcook, they included names like Petipas,Bonin,Roma,Manet and Mayet. And Chezzetcook also became the home of Breaus and Bonnevies from Miquelon and also for Simon Julien a deserter from the Napleonic wars. In the first part of 1770 there were around 12 Acadian families in chezzetcook and when the Bishop of Quebec made his visit to Nova Scotia in 1815 there were 47 families.Thought you would enjoy reading this little tidbit on Chezzetcook. I believe one of my Bellefontaine ancestors was there for a while.Thanks for the visit, I need a break, a coffee break , a Tim Horton's break. grin.Do stop by againHave a great day

Aline