When visiting the south coast of Nova Scotia, close to Halifax, you can’t help but be charmed by the quaint fishing village of Peggys Cove. Further west, the old port town of Lunenburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995, is worth a stroll through its colourful streets, where it proudly displays its original buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries. Obviously, the south coast is endowed with a rich historical and natural heritage that amazes its visitors. However, let us linger, south of Lunenburg, at the mouth of the LaHave River, on a historic site less visible in tourist guides, but of capital importance for the Acadians and Francophones of the region…
The valley of the LaHave River
It was here that Isaac de Razilly landed in early September 1632 to establish settlers and found the first capital of Acadia. He built Fort Sainte-Marie-de-Grâce on a site known as La Hève (LaHave) after Samuel de Champlain’s visit to the area in 1604. Razilly spoke enthusiastically of this beautiful valley of LaHave suitable for agriculture and fishing. When he died untimely in 1636, most of the settlers had left to settle at Port-Royal. Acadian and Mi’kmaq families later formed the small settlement of Merligueche, the former Mi’kmaq name for Lunenburg. Almost all of these families had left the area when the town of Lunenburg was founded in 1753 by more than a thousand foreign Protestant settlers, mostly Germans, but also Swiss Germans and French from Montbéliard. They were all gradually assimilated into English-speaking society, preserving their traditions.
What remains of the Francophonie in the region today? In order to promote French culture, Francophones created the Centre Communautaire de la Rive-Sud in 2009, within the new school centre opened in 2010 near Bridgewater. Why Bridgewater? Founded in the 1810s about 20 kilometres from the mouth of the LaHave River, where it is no longer navigable, Bridgewater is currently the largest town on the south coast. With a constantly growing population, it is a real hub for businesses and services in the region, where Francophones are in the minority [1].
In addition, Francophones on the South Shore are not often from the region, where the largest private employer, the French company Michelin, probably employs many of them. The community centre therefore faces the challenge of bringing them together to feel part of the community. At the Centre scolaire de la Rive-Sud, the collaboration between the children, their parents and the community is a real asset for parents to support the community centre. Let’s hope that the school will be able to adapt to the growing needs of the high school, especially in French as a second language. This is a very good prospect for the future of the regional Francophonie.
Header image: Fort Point Lighthouse and Museum, a national historic site in LaHave, dedicated to the history of the river’s inhabitants (author Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0 license).
Jean-Marc Agator
Paris, France
Sources
Ross, Sally, et J. Alphonse Deveau ; Les Acadiens de la Nouvelle-Ecosse, hier et aujourd’hui ; Les Editions d’Acadie, Moncton, 1995.
Potter, R.R. ; Les Français du comté de Lunenburg ; La Société Historique Acadienne, décembre 1984, Moncton, p.138-140.
Le Courrier de la Nouvelle-Ecosse : Garder ça vivant (01/06/2022) ; Le Centre communautaire de la Rive-Sud veut faire rayonner sa communauté (16/06/2023).
[1] Only 7.8% of Bridgewater’s 8790 residents are able to conduct a conversation in both official languages (Statistics Canada 2021).