Késsinnimek - Roots - Racines

French Culture: Follow the Churches
Suivre les églises
by
                    Juliana L'Heureux

Memorial Church at Grand Pré
By Juliana L'Heureux

"Close at her father's side was the gentle Evangeline seated,
Spinning flax for the loom that stood in the corner behind her",
from "Evangeline", by Longfellow, pictured in the Fox Film is Dolores Del Rio as Evangeline.

GRAND PRÉ NOVA SCOTIA - Dans le monde entier, there are hundreds of places where the French left their historic mark by either building, or establishing magnificent and interesting churches. Although the Memorial Church at Grand Pré, Nova Scotia is small, it's a splendid and solemn memorial.

Located in the Annapolis Valley in the western area of Nova Scotia, the rather small chapel signifies a sad and momentous event in French history called "Le Grand Dérangement". It was erected by the descendents of the French Acadians who once thrived in the area until they became victims of the colonial wars between the French and the English. The chapel was built near the remains of the original St. Charles Church, the parish built by the colonial Acadian settlers in the 16th century.

Colonel John Winslow burned Saint Charles Church on September 5, 1755, during le dérangement, (i.e., deportation). Oftentimes, this scenic region of Nova Scotia is called "the land of Evangeline", after the heroin of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem. Longfellow's mythic heroine lived in Grand-Pré. Memorial Church is dedicated to the memory of the 1755 mass evacuation of Acadians, an embarrassing episode in French-English colonial era relations, even today. The stone church structure supports a tall steeple rising high in the middle of a beautifully landscaped historic site and museum called Evangeline Memorial Park. A red white and blue Acadian flag waves nearby from a tall flag post. A serene location, the Memorial Church and the park are sober memorials to the French Acadian history evident in this pristine place. A focal point in the park is the familiar statue of Evangeline designed by Phillipe Herbert, a descendent of the expelled French. The statue was unveiled on July 29, 1920, in a ceremony led by Lady Burnham, the wife of the owner of London's "Daily Telegraph". It is reported that Lady Burnham dedicated the statue with "gifted eloquence, voicing the universal regrets of the British for the harshness of the past".

Longfellow describes Grand Pré, prior to le dérangement in memorable prose:

"This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlock,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,"

Evangeline's statue represents the longing of the Acadians, who mourn for their families, who were "scattered to the wind", and for the land that was taken during the 1755 brutal expulsion by the British. The statue is an immortal reminder of the innocence lost during Le Grand Dérangement. Evangeline's statue stands within the shadow of graceful old French willow trees that may have been brought to the area by the Acadian settlers when they came from France. At least one willow is several hundred years old and could have stood witness to the horrible 1755 incident. Although fictional, Evangeline is a myth that has defined a horrible historic event. A white granite sculpture of Longfellow, dedicated by his direct descendent, Alice Longfellow, is also located in Memorial Park.

I found a description of Evangeline Memorial Park and the Evangeline Well in an old student reader published in 1924 titled, "The Land of Evangeline" by Jay Earle Thomson (see bibliography). The title page of the worn jacketed "silent reader" says Thomson was the superintendent of schools in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. He writes, "Before Colonel Winslow deported the Acadians, a number of them believed they would return and buried certain tools, treasures and utensils in a well. As the years rolled by, the well was completely forgotten. Then, in the early part of the 19th century, a farmer discovered the old well while plowing. Within its depths, he found scythes, forks, plowshares, and other agricultural implements. The wood had rotted from the handles, but the iron, though rusty, were in good state of preservation. The museums at Memorial Park contain a number of relics obtained from what today is called 'Evangeline's well'".

A crushed stone path leads to a huge cross made from field stone and masonry, marking the site of the Acadian cemetery. Inside Memorial Church is a brilliant stained glass window depicting storms at sea and fire. Blue stained glass represents the Acadian reliance on the ocean for fishing and their tragic deportation at sea. A ring of fire circles the stained glass, signifying the burning of the Acadian homes as they fled. Colonel Winslow ordered the burning to make sure there was nothing left for the survivors to return to. Winslow kept a diary with an account of the number of Acadians deported:

"Males from ten years            446
Deputies, prisoners at Halifax   37
Married women                     337
Sons                                     527
Daughters                             576
   Total                                1923
Old and infirm not mentioned  820
                                            2743"

Again in Winslow's diary, he gave an account of the destruction:

"Houses                                  255
Barns                                      276
Outhouses                               155
Mills                                         11
Church                                       1
   Total                                    698"

And Longfellow captured the horrible moments so well when he wrote:

"And with the ebb of the tide, the ships sailed out of the harbor,
Leaving behind them the dead on the shore and the village in ruins".

In the context of cathedrals and churches, Memorial Church and Evangeline Park are not actual religious sites; but they are shrines of eternal remembrance, nonetheless.

Bibliography:
Thomson, Jay E., A.M., Superintendent of Schools Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey; The Land of Evangeline: Silent Reading for Upper Grades; D.C. Health and Company, New York, 1924.

---

[1] Thomson, J. E., “The Land of Evangeline”; p. 162 (photo credit Fox Film Company)
[2] Ibid; pp. 109-110

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Created 1 Feb 2003