Grand Pré: a World Heritage Landscape

Painting: Lewis Parker

When the French settlers came to Les Mines (Grand Pré) from Port Royal in the 1680s, the lands remained under the control of the same man as those they had left.

Alexandre LeBorgne de Bélisle held those lands by a feudal grant from the king of France.

In Grand Pré, the Acadians would transform saltwater marsh into productive farmland by employing the same methods used in Port-Royal. The first French settlers in Port-Royal were mainly from the Atlantic coastal region of Aunis and Saintonge. Among them were keepers of the centuries-old expertise of building dykes and draining lands in western France.

So impressive in size and engineering and durability are the reclaimed lands that, 10 years ago in 2012, the Landscape of Grand Pré was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.