Carvings to tell of a not so pleasant piece of history

Rob Keeble

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GTA Ontario Canada
During my visit to Peter , he took us to a place called Grand Pre a piece of land near the town of Wolfville kind of in the middle on the north west side of the island.

Well once again i discovered something i had little knowledge of that related to the conduct of my English ancestors back in the days of colonial times. Boy they sure got up to some nasty stuff.

This area essentially was inhabited at one time by a group of French settlers called the Acadians and oh boy it pains me to say the English literally deported them lock stock and barrel and then to ensure they did not return burnt their homes down. This is a really sad and bad story of forced removal for doing absolutely nothing but existing. Even the officer executing the order was at pains to explain in a documented letter that he was against it but had to follow orders.

Seems to me Her Majesties troops have had a bad habit of doing this as they did the same in the Boer War to ensure the homesteads did not provide support for the Boers who essentially were waging what would be the first guerrilla war.

Anyhow credit to Canadian Gov and Parks Canada there is a really well presented museum at this spot which tells the story through a movie with two holographic images doing narration as the story proceeds, incredibly well done because the theater where the movie is show is built out in such a way that the beams etc give you the impression of being in the cargo hold of a 18th century ship. The story is a very moving one, and I am not ashamed to say the story moved me to tears that man can be so inhuman to another man for no reason. It reminds one that this kind of thing is unacceptable behavior in my view after all i have lived through coming from SA.


Well to get back to the carvings done by local carving artists. Something else to see i hope the picture provide some idea.

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While we at it i know a few here have an interest in stain glass windows so here are some shots from the Church that is on the site where the village once used to be.

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...This area essentially was inhabited at one time by a group of French settlers called the Acadians and oh boy it pains me to say the English literally deported them lock stock and barrel and then to ensure they did not return burnt their homes down...

Many of them moved to Louisiana, where they're generally referred to as Cajuns. They're a thriving 'sub-culture' in that part of the country.
 
Many of them moved to Louisiana, where they're generally referred to as Cajuns. They're a thriving 'sub-culture' in that part of the country.

Yup, without that history we probably wouldn't have Cajun cooking so at least some good came out of it. Not justifying it at all, but knowing were things come from is often interesting and useful.

Nice carvings, I think the one with my wheat sheaf is my favorite as it really seems to jump off of the board at you. Really well executed.
 
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