Caraquet

July 4-5, 2016

The drive from Percé, Quebec to Caraquet, New Brunswick was long (258 miles)but pretty.  Although we were west of the Gaspé Peninsula, we now lost an hour, changing to Atlantic Daylight Time.

For the first time since the caravan began, we set up in sunshine.  What a difference!  People milled around and socialized.  Jane played some dulcimer at the picnic table.  We celebrated July 4th with desserts and a drivers’ meeting.

We visited Acadian Historic Village, where over 60 structures have been moved and restored.  Costumed interpreters talked about the people who lived or worked in the buildings, showcasing Acadian life from 1770 through 1949.  We saw homes, a school house, a church, farms, a sawmill, a grist mill, a blacksmith, a hotel (still functioning) and a general store.

We were woefully uninformed about Canadian history but were able to put some meaning to this site and what we had seen in Quebec as the trip went on.  Eastern Quebec, the Maritime Provinces and part of Maine were a French colony, contested repeatedly with the British in the 17th and 18th centuries.  The British had control in 1755 and required an unconditional oath of allegiance of the Acadians, whether they had resisted the British or had been neutral.  About 11,000 of 14,000 Acadians were deported to the U.S. colonies, Great Britain and France.  Some settled eventually in Louisiana, becoming known as Cajuns, a contraction of Acadians.