At the Acadian Village

Photos July 29, 2016

We spent much of the day at the Acadian Village. Old buildings from different areas where the Acadians settled have been relocated here. Currently the oldest dates from 1770 (it was being installed) and the newest from the mid twentieth century. To quote the site, the Village is "A living museum portraying the daily lives of the Acadians from 1770 to 1949." There are people in costumes who go about life as it would have been led at the time of the buildings where they are located. They are not acting. You can have conversations with them. One in particular touched me - she was in the home of her great-grandfather. She spoke about how even the gardens at each household are planted only with the vegetables that would have been grown where those houses were originally located.



The people work at the gardens, saw wood, cook meals and eat them, make rope, care for animals etc.



One woman was working with wool - washing the freshly sheared wool. She explained the process she goes through from washing all the way to dying it. There was a pot ready dye some newly spun wool which was soaking - the better to absorb the dye, we were told. She uses the recipes that would have been used in the mid 1800s.



The women prepare meals, wash the dishes and do a variety of other chores.



There is livestock - each farm seemed to have its share of chickens!



In part of the village there were tradespeople - a tavern, grocery store, etc. This is the grist mill.



We walked through a covered bridge which then took us to the early twentieth century complete with a hotel and a gas station.

I found this an interesting concept - it was not a village frozen in time but rather slices of life from different areas and different eras.



The day ended with another concert at Église Ste-Cécile - I found the sober pictures of the priests along with these portrayals of the stations of the cross somewhat incongruous on the wildly painted walls. I guess it just adds to the hallucinatory effect of the place.