Memorial Chapel & Evangeline Statue, Grand Pré, NS - Philatelic Photographs on Waymarking.com

The Grand Pré National Historic Site commemorates the deportation of the Acadian people by British authorities in Nova Scotia beginning in 1755. At that time Grand Pré was a largely agrarian community with a population of about 1500. The fertile tidal plain was reclaimed from the Minas Basin through a series of dikes and sluices which are still in use today. Grand Pré was the largest of the Acadian settlements and as such became a center for the subsequent deportation. It was also the site of a Parish church (Saint Charles) and a cemetery.

In the 17th and 18th century, Acadia was a French colony in North America and a part of “New France.” Apparently its borders were as uncertain as the etymology of its name since it appeared differently (and was spelled differently) on many early maps. In general though, it encompassed all of the modern Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick as well as a piece of eastern Quebec and a big chunk of Maine. Although there were settlements all over this region, the bulk of the population was located in what is now Nova Scotia.

Throughout its turbulent existence, Acadia’s history was peppered with wars, skirmishes and border disputes. Some of these involved run-ins with neighboring New England while others were spillovers from global conflicts involving the mother countries. In one of these, the War of Spanish Succession (known as Queen Anne’s War in North America), the British seized the Acadian capital of Port Royale (present day Annapolis Royal, NS). When the war ended in 1713, France ceded Acadia to England as part of the Treaty of Utrecht. This effectively ended Acadia’s existence and established Nova Scotia as a British colony.

The Acadian people, who always enjoyed a certain amount of autonomy as French subjects, never found British rule very palatable. When the French and Indian War broke out in 1754 the government of Nova Scotia decided, for a variety of reasons, to deport the Acadian population. This took place in two waves. The first wave saw about 7000 Acadians sent to other British colonies in North America (mostly Massachusetts, Virginia and Maryland but also as far as South Carolina and Georgia). During the second wave, another 4500 Acadians were deported, this time to Great Britain and France. Many of those deported to France returned to the “New World” albeit to Louisiana Territory where they became known as “Cajuns.”

The plight of these Acadians might have been lost to the annals of history if were it not for the epic poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called “Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie.” First published in 1847, it recounts the fictional story of a young Acadian girl named Evangeline who becomes separated from her beloved Gabriel during the deportation. After searching for years in various locations, she finally encounters Gabriel as an old man among the sick in Philadelphia where he dies in her arms. The poem was very popular and spurred an interest in and among the descendants of the Acadian people as well as a desire for many to visit the Grand Pré area.

In 1907 a fellow by the name of John Frederic Herbin (who was of partial Acadian descent) bought the land believed to be the former site of the Church of Saint Charles in Grand Pré in order to preserve it. Later he sold the land to the Dominion Atlantic Railroad with the stipulation that a chapel be built as part of an Acadian memorial. In addition to the chapel, the memorial also included gardens and a statue of Evangeline.

Architect René Frechet designed the chapel in a style reminiscent of that used for churches in Quebec during the 18th century since no one knows what the original church looked like. And since Evangeline was a fictional character, sculptor Henri Hébert used his sister as a model.

The memorial chapel was opened in 1930, the 175th anniversary of the deportation and found its way onto the postage stamp later that same year. The memorial was sold to the federal government in 1957 with administration being assumed by Parks Canada. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1982 and, in 2012, the “Landscape of Grand Pré” became a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The stamp was part of the regular issue of 1930 which showed a portrait of King George V on the low values and various pictorial scenes on the high values. This particular stamp shows the chapel and statue superimposed over the classic view of the landscape of Grand Pré with the cliffs of Cape Blomidon in the background. This view can be seen from an overlook about a half mile from the historic site on Old Post Road.

Stamp Issuing Country: Canada Date of Issue: 4-Dec-1930 Denomination: 50 cents Color: dull blue Stamp Type: Single Stamp Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

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