The Acadian Story
& the Salt Marshes of the Upper Bay

The salt marshes of Chignecto Bay - Bay of Fundy - are not only essential to the health of the Bay, but their presence have influenced the early human history of the area. In 1604 Sieur de Monts, with his geographer Samual de Champlain, made their epic journey into the Bay of Fundy. They called it Baie François. During that first winter, they settled on the island of Saint Croix, on the US and Canada border. The location was not the best and half of the settlers (thirty six men) died of scurvy. The following year, the colony moved across the Bay to Port Royal, and here began the Acadian story of North America. No other group which colonized North America developed settlements based on the reclamation of salt marshes. Therefore the early Acadian story is interwoven with the salt marshes that surrounded much of the Bay of Fundy. In New Brunswick (and northern Nova Scotia) the most abundant marshes were found in Tantramar, Memramcook and Chipouday - now the community of Shepody on Route 114.

It was no coincidence that Acadian history and salt marshes are linked. In their homeland, they were familiar with the practice of reclaiming land from the sea, a process much more appealing then cutting trees, digging out stumps and clearing rocks. The technology used to reclaim a salt marsh for agriculture use was the aboiteau - a simple but ingenious devise that allowed fresh water to drain from the marsh but prevented salt water from re-entering. It consisted of a wooden clapper valve that opened at low tide under pressure of the fresh water against it, but closed when the tide came in. The part of the Bay of Fundy coastline that is now Fundy National Park was not settled for another 200 years. The Acadians were not interested in this area of rocks and trees because there were no salt marshes. In the mid 1800s, as the demand for quality lumber grew, settlers finally arrived, establishing sawmills, shipyards, and communities now visited by tourists from around the world.

1604	Sieur de Monts & Champlain formed a colony on the island of Saint Croix
1605	Port Royal established - the first permanent European settlement in North America north of Florida.
1606 to 1713	Settlements sprang up throughout Acadia. Pierre Thibodeau let settlers to settle at Shepody (Chipoudy) in 1698. He had been a miller at Pre Ronde at Port Royal.
1701	The Acadian town of Petitcodiac is founded
1713	Treaty of Utrecht that ceded part of Acadia - mainland Nova Scotia to Great Britian. New Brunswick remained under French control.
1714 to 1755	Settlements along Chignecto Bay continued to grow as conflict with the English increased in Acadian Nova Scotia.
1755	Fort Beauséjour at the head of Shepody Bay / Chignecto Bay fell to the British and the beginning of the deportation of the Acadians - "Le Grand Derangement". Altogether some 6000 people were deported in the first year.
1755 to 1762	A number from Acadia (Nova Scotia) arrived to escape from the deportation. But conditions were harsh and many died or were captured for eventual deportation.
1763	Treaty of Paris -peace between England and France. France lost control over all of its possessions in North America except for the islands of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon.
1763 to present	A number of Acadians returned to New Brunswick but few resettled on the marshes around Shepody and Hopewell Cape. Testimony to their presence are the dykes still there after all of these years.
1864	Founding of College Saint-Joseph, the first Acadian college, at Memramcook, NB
1963	Creation of Universite de Moncton

Want to learn more about the early Acadians?