Established by the French at Port-Royal (today Annapolis Royal), Acadia developed on the territory of present-day Nova Scotia in the first half of the 17^th century. Choosing a neutral position with regard to the incessant wars going on between France and England, the little colony saw itself alternately subjected to one or the other of these European powers, until the Treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, gave it up definitively to the English.

The period of relative peace that followed saw Acadia prosper and expand, creating villages in the Minas Basin and as far as Southeastern New Brunswick. But in 1755, the little community was dismembered by a decree of the British authorities, confiscating the occupants' possessions and condemning them to deportation.

Outlawed, dispersed to the four winds or forced to a clandestine life, they remained silent for long years; but then, timidly at first, and by and by more openly, they reclaimed a place on the ruins of ancient Acadia. Their original lands no longer belonged to them, but they spread out in corners overlooked by the new masters and little by little recreated a living Acadia, which has no official status, but proclaims its existence in an ever more determined voice.

This resettlement period is what we recreate in the 18^th and 19^th centuries section of our historical village. Within the realm of what was possible, what we chose to illustrate was the sparse life of those difficult times. This very condition seemed like a motive for pride, since it bears witness to the courage and perseverance our ancestors had to muster in order to maintain, despite the hardships of their fate, their identity, their language and their customs.

On the second part of the site, past the little covered bridge, we recall the first steps of Acadia into the 20^th century, when our grandparents began to fall in step with progress and new technologies, already with more enthusiam.

Acadians, who at the time of their deportation numbered barely fifteen thousand, number today more than two million. Scattered by an ill wind, offshoots from the original tree have taken root under new skies. In Louisiana, where many found a haven in those troubled years, there are over one million. They are found in all Canadian provinces, especially in Quebec, and in the Falkland Islands, in France, in New England. Many have kept the memory of their origin and still consider themselves Acadians.

But it is chiefly in Canada's Maritime Provinces - New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island - — that they have asserted their presence. In this corner of the land, which once bore the name of Acadia, they feel an attachment to the soil. Here they gave themselves a flag, a national anthem, institutions; here, more than anywhere else, they have regained, through their tenaciousness, an important share of the rights of which they had been despoiled. In New Brunswick, where they account for one third of the population, their language is one of the two recognized by government, making this the only officially bilingual province in Canada.

We are no longer deportees and if we are able to make that statement today with legitimate pride, without fear of reprisal, we owe it to those who lived through the sliver of history reproduced here. It is a tribute that we pay our ancestors, to proclaim how proud we are of what they were able to retain of the priceless heritage that they have left us, which is called dignity.