French Flavour of Acadia

by Maureen Wright

 

We came into Campbellton, New Brunswick along the Matapedia River valley - staring across the river at the amazing Sugarloaf Mountain. We were thrilled to cross over into New Brunswick as, despite the adventure we had with trying to get along with the French language in Quebec, we were craving some English conversation. This goes to show how unaware we Westerners are about our country.

 

The Acadian Coast (and much more of New Brunswick) is VERY French and though signs were bilingual for the most part, many people spoke only French. We are now very used to looking for Épicerie or Boulangerie, Fromagerie, Baunderie, Piscine and Station de Vidange. How many of those did you get?

 

New Brunswick must be Canada's best kept secret. There are miles and miles of white sandy beaches broken by high sandstone sculpted cliffs along the entire Chaleur Bay coast; small villages with Victorian or French style houses, beautiful churches; harbours full of colourful fishing boats, lobster and crab traps and friendly people.

 

We visited the Acadian Village at Caraquet and were as impressed with it as we were with Upper Canada Village in Ontario. It also is a "living museum" where the interpreters are dressed as Acadians from 1770 to the 1930s and conduct themselves as they would during those times: cooking, farming, milling, etc. Most impressive was a replica of a log cabin off in a small clearing depicting the life of an Acadian in his first year returning to the area in the 1770s.

 

We spent 2 days on Miscou Island that is at the east end of the Acadian Peninsula. One of the only campsites was a nightmare, packed to the rafters with vacationers - and the lovely, long, white sandy beach was also packed with families out to have a summer experience that included sand, sun, water and beer! However, all we had to do was walk 15 minutes down the beach, or cycle to the end of the island and we had roads, beaches and marshes all to ourselves.

 

We packed a picnic lunch and cycled for about 30 Km around the island, stopped to talk to a fellow collecting berries on one of the marshes (he spoke some version of French so we still don't know what he was collecting but walking out on the marsh to talk to him was like walking on marshmallows!), and had our lunch on a completely deserted beach. The roadways are narrow and winding and the roadsides are covered in rushes, wild roses and other wild flowers so the air is full of the smell of the flowers as you ride along

 

We stopped in Neguac at the community centre to use the Internet. When we went in the door, half the town was there having pancake breakfast with the local radio station on location (but no access to the Internet!). It turns out it was a fundraiser profiling local talent in an effort to keep radio in the Miramichi. When they found out we were from Vancouver "and could not speak French" the performers were told to sing in English! Where we expected these old folks to be serenading us with traditional Acadian music, we got "Your Cheatin' Heart" and "You are my Sunshine" instead (the only English songs they knew?). It was hilarious - but after the big noise about us being there, we were embarrassed to leave! We stopped to have a traditional Acadian meal (fish cakes and meat pie, cooked cabbage and carrots - served with Chow Chow. Anyone know what that is?)

The Acadian Coast is made up of small, colourful fishing villages and old houses built right next to the road. Many areas have white sandy (unused) beaches that are dotted with broken lobster traps that have been washed up with the tides.

 

We stopped at Shediac which is a small, very touristy town outside Moncton about an hour's drive from the Confederation Bridge. We would not have normally stayed in such a touristy "hot spot" like this but had been invited to dinner by the Bellemare's who are children of our friend Ken from Vancouver. We walked into this magical world of family cottages on the ocean, screened porches, views of the lighthouse and we learned a lot about living in Atlantic Canada (summer and winter) from people who had lived in both the east and the west coasts.