Background
In the southern Minas Basin of Nova Scotia, the Grand Pré marshland and its archaeological sites bear witness to farmland won with dykes and the aboiteau wooden sluice, begun by the Acadians in the 17th century and kept up by the Planters and today's inhabitants. UNESCO says the 1,300 ha landscape, on a coast with one of the most extreme tidal ranges in the world, averaging 11.6 m, is also inscribed as a memorial to the Acadian way of life and to the deportation that began in 1755, the Grand Dérangement.
Grand-Pré was founded around 1680 by Pierre Melanson and Pierre Terriot, settlers from Port Royal who dyked the salt marshes and made it the principal settlement of Acadia; Longfellow's poem Evangeline made it famous. Wikivoyage traces the village through its ravaging in 1704, the British takeover of 1713, the 1747 battle and the deportation of autumn 1755, after which New England Planters arrived from 1760. The National Historic Site tells the story, and Evangeline Beach is a vantage point for the tides and migrating shorebirds.
- c. 1680Grand-Pré is founded from Port Royal
- 1713Peninsular Nova Scotia passes to Britain
- 1747The Battle of Grand-Pré
- 1755The deportation of the Acadians begins
- 1760New England Planters take up the farms
- 2012Inscribed as World Heritage
Find Your Way Around
The main parts of the site, in the order most visitors see them
- 1Grand-Pré National Historic SiteThe story of the deportation, told through multimedia.
- 2The DykelandsPolder fields behind the Acadian dykes and aboiteaux, still farmed.
- 3Evangeline BeachShorebirds by the thousand and the ebb and flow of the Fundy tides.
- 4HortonvilleArchaeological traces of the Planter town beside the Acadian one.
- 5WolfvilleThe town a few kilometres west, at the edge of the Annapolis Valley.
Know Before You Go
From Wikivoyage and the GoGo guides
Dykes and Tides
Not yet in a GoGo guide
- 10:00Grand-Pré National Historic Site2 hrsThe Acadian story.
- 12:30The Dykelands1 hrA walk along the Acadian dykes.
- 14:00Evangeline Beach1 hrTide and shorebirds on the Minas Basin.
Best Time to Visit
Best months: Jun–Sep. Freezing days in Dec–Mar.
Typical highs
Climate: NASA POWER
Pair It With
Other World Heritage sites nearby, by distance
