Meadow of Tears

Meadow of tears by Karen Cook - Grand Pre (French for large meadow) is a National Historic Site of Canada located in the Annapolis Valley of Nova... more

by Karen Cook

Title

Meadow of Tears

Artist

Karen Cook

Medium

Photograph - Original Not For Sale.

Description

Meadow of tears by Karen Cook - Grand Pre (French for large meadow) is a National Historic Site of Canada located in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia. It is a site dedicated to the memory of one history's most tragic events and one that was largely unknown to most of the world until a poem was written a century later. The event is referred to the Expulsion of the Acadians, the Great Expulsion or the Great Deportment.

The Annapolis Valley was settled mostly by French in the 1600s. The area was known as Acadia and the people were peaceful farmers, building farms on land they reclaimed from the sea with dykes. Over the years the territory changed hands between the French and the English until in the mid 1700s the territory was firmly in control of the English.

The Acadians were ordered to swear an oath of allegiance to England, even though they were known for their neutrality in conflict. They refused.

One Sunday morning in September 1755 all the men and boys over the age of 10 of the Acadian communities were herded into their local churches and told they were being exiled or expelled from the area, their homes would be burnt and their lands destroyed. Resistance was met with the threat of death. By the time England and France had made peace with each other, more than 12,000 Acadians had been forced from their land. Families were separated and many of those forced to leave died from starvation, imprisonment or drowning in an escape attempt. In some communities the death rate was over 50 per cent.

They were deported to other English colonies, the Caribbean, and France. Some found their way to Louisiana where they stayed and became known as "Cajuns". Many years later, some of the Acadians returned to Nova Scotia and resettled lands elsewhere, near the town of Yarmouth and along the Bay of Fundy coast which is now referred to as the "French Shore' and is home to a proud and vital Acadian community where the heritage is celebrated and cherished.

In 1847 the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published a poem called Evangeline, and the story of the Expulsion became known through the English speaking world. His fictional heroine Evangeline became a folk legend and people descended on the area to visit Grand Pre and see what was remaining of her home. All that remains of the original village which was burnt to the ground by the English troops is the dykelands and a row of old Willow trees.

The Grand Pre park and its memorial Church is dedicated to the remembrance of the Expulsion and was built in the early part of the 20th century and became a National HIstoric Site in 1982. In 2012 it was dedicated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a memorial to Acadian way of life and deportation. Family records, list of names, artifacts of the time and other memorabilia are on display in the park.

On a personal note - I am proud to say that my parents are of Acadian descent.

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Uploaded

May 7th, 2016