[ Day 15 ] Wednesday, July 1 CANADA DAY, Wolfville, NS (11km)

Route description: Rt. 1 (Evangeline Trail) to and from Grand Pre UNESCO World Heritage Site 

Weather: Morning fog with afternoon sunshine

We are enjoying our comfortable stay and bay-view room at Garden House; our attentive and story-telling host, Brian; and walks onto and around downtown.

It is fitting that we passed the day among the people of Wolfville in their celebration of Canada Day and took a side trip to Grand Pre to learn more of the history of Acadia. The people who became the Acadians came to the Maritimes before Jamestown was founded. In their isolation they established communities using a sophisticated agricultural system of polders, similar to the Dutch. Their dykes are still visable today.

Grand Pre: Evangeline & Memorial Church

Despite efforts to remain neutral, they became pawns and victims of the see-sawing politics and wars between the French and English. When forcibly expelled by the British,  Louisana was but one of the many places they settled during their diaspora. This is complex history of tragedy and renaissance. Join us in becoming better informed, starting with Wikipedia's History of the Acadians: " The nineteenth century saw the beginning of the Acadian Renaissance and the publication of Evangeline, which helped galvanize Acadian identity. In the last century Acadians have made achievements in the areas of equal language and cultural rights as a minority group in the Maritime provinces of Canada."

We end with images from the Canada Day celebrations.