After we said goodbye to Hopewell Rocks (with plenty of daylight left), we decided to drive towards the Acadian Coastal area. Our first stop was the Monument Lefebvre Acadian Museum located in Memramcook. The monument is dedicated to Father Camille Lefebvre who in 1864 started the first French speaking college to offer a full degree in Atlantic Canada. Today the property still houses a college and the museum. After the Acadian deportations in 1755 through 1762, the Acadian people started filtering back to the area and settled along the eastern coast of New Brunswick. There was no place for the French speaking Acadians to obtain an education.

The monument celebrates both Father Camille’s achievements and in 1881 the first “Acadian Convention” which united Acadians  from around the world. Conventions have been held every few years since then on August 15. About 5,000 people attended the very first one, with the number now reaching over 100,000! The museum does a great job describing Acadian life before the expulsion by the British and the Acadian renaissance since the 1850’s.  Before the British booted the French out of the area the land was called Acadia.  Thus people from there were called Acadians. This is where the term Cajuns came from, for our friends in Louisiana!  After the expulsion, the name changed to Nova Scotia or New Scotland. We did find out that Scott, Louisiana is a sister city to Memramcook where the Monument is located.

As an aside I might be part Acadian, My uncles last name was Jolicoeur.  I could be related to Catherine in the photo below.

From Memramcook we drove over to St Anne’s church which overlooked the Petitcodiac river.  On the way we saw two of the wooden tide gates or aboiteaux that the Acadians used to drain the salt marshes to reclaim the land.

From there we drove to Aulac to view the French built Fort Beausejour, renamed Fort Cumberland by the British.

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