with a little Mi’kmaw ancestry in the mix – from the fort to the crumbling, early 18th-century headstones of the neighbouring graveyard. He regales us with stories of abandoned army wives, God-fearing husbands with an eye on the heavens, and tales of the elaborate dinners held here by French explorer Samuel de Champlain and his Order of Good Cheer – so lively, we can almost taste the moose-nose soup, a dish sure to stick in the mind, and possibly the gullet, too. But it’s the memorial to the
fascinating local figure Rose Fortune that really stands out, commemorating a freed Pennsylvania slave who fled to Nova Scotia after the American Revolution, and ended up becoming Canada’s first police woman. In the 1980s, one of her descendants, Daurene Lewis, was elected the country’s first black mayor. In fact, Nova Scotia’s entire history is one long tale of settlers and the dispossessed, from the native Mi’kmaq, whose way of life was changed for ever by the arrival of the Europeans, to the Acadian farmers who were, themselves, thrown off land they had cultivated for years amid the struggle between European powers. Small it might be, but this town –
and by extension, the entire province – has plenty of interesting stories hiding just below the surface.
w GRAND PRE HISTORIC SITE Speaking of storytelling, Grand Pré National Historic Site is the place to
We are regaled with tales of dinners held by Samuel de Champlain – so lively, we can almost taste the moose-nose soup
go to hear the shocking plight of the Acadian settlers, who established themselves as farmers in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, becoming the first generation to be born and raised here rather than moving over from France. They took floodplains filled with
seawater and, through hard work and a little technological knowhow, transformed them into farmland. But even all the way across the Atlantic, these simple farmers were drawn into the vicissitudes of the Seven Years War with France, when the British decided to assert their control over modern-day Canada by expelling the Acadians from the land they had lived on for years. Deported and scattered across the Americas – the word ‘Cajun’ in Louisiana comes from a distortion of the name ‘Acadian’, whose descendants can still be found there today – it was only in 1763 that Acadians were permitted to return. Many stayed put, or returned to find New England planters had taken up residence on their hard-won land,
leaving them to start all over again. The story is told in the epic poem
Evangeline, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and statues of the poet and his most famous character can be found at Grand Pré, along with excellent interpretative guides from Parks Canada, who turn these long- ago events into dramatic, living history.
w ANNAPOLIS VALLEY Fast-forward to today, and the Annapolis Valley is a very different place – more focused on wine than on war. It’s a relatively recent innovation here, with the first winery opening its doors in 1979, but since then, 23 small, mostly family-run, vineyards have sprung up around the province. The signature grape, L’Acadie blanc,
ABOVE: Lunenburg
LEFT: Grand Pré National Historic Site
RIGHT: Domaine de Grand Pré Winery
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travelweekly.co.uk 23 August 2018
was a tad sharp for my tastes, though it pairs well with the Digby scallops and fresh lobster that grace many a menu here. But if that’s not to your clients’ liking, the province’s only appellation, a blend known as Tidal Bay, is more of a crowd-pleaser. Recommend a wine tasting, or
even more than one. At Domaine de
PICTURES: PARCS CANADA/SCOTT MUNN
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