The Landscape of Grand Pré
Nova Scotia
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In 2012, the Grand-Pré Landscape in the Annapolis Valley became Canada's 16th World Heritage Site, listed by UNESCO.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites are recognized as having Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) for humanity as a whole. This means they all have cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations to come. |
We recently collaborated with Parks Canada on this project to create a virtual exhibit on the Landscape of Grand Pré World Heritage Site.
From the Observation Park, this is what you see as you face north and look out over the vast expanse of dyked land in the World Heritage Site. To the east and west are the dykes that protect the working farmland. In the background, the memorial church at Grand-Pré National Historic Site. Long Island is north of the dyked lands and the Blomidon cliffs are in the background. The 13-square-kilometre (5 mi²) Landscape of Grand Pré site is located on the Bay of Fundy’s Minas Basin in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley.
The Outstanding Universal Value of this remarkable agricultural and symbolic landscape is captured below:
The Landscape of Grand Pré is an exceptional living agricultural landscape, claimed from the sea in the 17th century and still in use today applying the same technology and the same community-based management. Grand Pré is also the iconic place of remembrance of the Acadians who lived in harmony with the native Mi’Kmaq people before the Expulsion which began in 1755. Its memorial constructions form the centre of the symbolic re-appropriation of the land of their origins by the Acadians, in the 20th century, in a spirit of peace and cultural sharing with the local area community.
Please see UNESCO for the approved and complete statement of Outstanding Universal Value.
The Landscape of Grand Pré is an exceptional living agricultural landscape, claimed from the sea in the 17th century and still in use today applying the same technology and the same community-based management. Grand Pré is also the iconic place of remembrance of the Acadians who lived in harmony with the native Mi’Kmaq people before the Expulsion which began in 1755. Its memorial constructions form the centre of the symbolic re-appropriation of the land of their origins by the Acadians, in the 20th century, in a spirit of peace and cultural sharing with the local area community.
Please see UNESCO for the approved and complete statement of Outstanding Universal Value.
© Jamie Robertson
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The View ParkFacing North - from the View Park towards the expanse of dykelands of the World Heritage Site. To the east and west are dykes protecting the active agricultural landscape. The Memorial Church at Grand-Pré National Historic Site can be seen in the middle distance; Long Island is to the north of the dykelands and the cliffs of Blomidon are in the far distance.
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 Discover. Learn. Enjoy.The dykelands, fields, and settlement on the hills, first established by the Acadians in the 1680s, have been maintained and expanded over centuries by farmers of New England Planter descent, and later immigrants - including English and Scottish who came in the 19th and 20th centuries and Dutch who arrived after the Second World War.
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 Agricultural ExcellenceHere at Grand-Pré, as elsewhere in Acadie, the Acadians established their settlements to take advantage of the potentially fertile salt marshes. In fact, no other people in North America developed agricultural communities as extensively as the Acadians did by transforming intertidal zones with the use of aboiteau technology.
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 History and DevelopmentSince the 1680s, when a small group of Acadian settlers first arrived in the area and called the vast wetlands la grand pré (The Big Meadow) the human history of Grand Pré has been linked to its natural setting and the exceptional fertility of this land by the sea.
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Project funding provided by:
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