1907 - The story of Grand-Pré and the Arts began when John Frederic Herbin, poet, historian and jeweller, whose mother was Acadian, purchased the land in 1907, where it was thought that the church of  Saint-Charles-des-Mines stood. Herbin had a cross built on the site, now called Herbin's Cross, to mark the cemetery, using stones taken from what was believed to be the foundations of former Acadian homes.

Herbin's Cross

1917 - Herbin sold the property to the Dominion Atlantic Railway (DAR) in 1917, under the condition that Acadians be granted the right to contribute to its preservation. The DAR transfered the land to the Société nationale l'Assomption that organized a series of fund raisers for the construction of the commemorative church which started in the spring of 1922. In the meantime, the DAR commissioned the statue of Evangeline, started in 1920 by the sculptor Philippe Hébert and completed by his son Henri after his father passed away.

1922 - The figurine of Evangeline and Benedict is given to the park by private donation. It is made of Parian ware, a type of English porcelain made to look like white marble. Common in Victorian homes, Parian ware was first developed in 1842, and is also known as statuary porcelain. It often takes as its subject historical or literary figures; this one depicts Longfellow’s Évangéline and her father Benedict, weighed down by their sorrows and cares. This particular statue is listed in an English catalogue of 1883.

"Evangeline and Benedict", private donor, 1922, figurine

1923 - This statue is a copy of a painting by Murillo, a 17^th century Spanish artist. It was commissioned for the Memorial Church at Grand-Pré in 1923 by the Société L’Assomption, an Acadian society. It was the first piece in the Memorial Church's art collection, which has continued to grow. Our Lady of the Assumption was chosen as the Acadians’ patron in Miscouche, P-E-I, in 1884, at the same time as the creation of the Acadian flag and their anthem, Ave Stella Maris. The Assumption, celebrated on the 15th of August, is a Roman Catholic feast commemorating the taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven. The figure complements the statue of Evangeline in its composition. There is a tension of movement between the turn of Evangeline’s head and the forward motion of the rest of her body that indicates her longing for the home she is leaving. On the other hand, both Mary’s body and her gaze are directed upward, toward the heaven she is approaching. The theme of longing for home in the figure of Evangeline is thus continued in Notre Dame de l’Assomption, though now cast in a more spiritual light. When the commemorative church and park came under the care of Parks Canada, the Société l’Assomption requested that the statue remain in the Memorial Church, along with the Acadian flag that now stands beside it.

The statue of "Our Lady of Assumption"

1930s - Two tin-punch works were done by a descendant of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and given to the park in the 1930s. The artist is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a distant relative of the poet (4th cousin, 3 times removed). Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Jr. (sometimes designated III or IV), was born May 29, 1906, and died in Newton, Mass., April 1975. His studio was in Weston, Mass., and he was an artist, having attended Syracuse Univ., Univ. of Virginia, and Babson College. A catalogue of the works of this artist says "Established in 1928." The catalogue was printed with a ZIP Code, which only came into use in 1963. There are at least two other depictions of a similar man and woman by this artist, but they were not labelled "Evangeline" and "Gabriel."

The biographical information is from the book A Longfellow Genealogy by Russell Clare Farnham, March 2002. Apparently Mr. Farnham got the information about Henry W. Longfellow Jr. from an obituary in the Newton, Mass., newspaper, The News-Tribune, Thursday, April 3 1975, page 10, column 1.

1936 - Father André D. Cormier (1854-1928) was the founding president of the Memorial Church Committee. While he was president, the Memorial Church was built, a statue of Our Lady of Assumption was purchased, the Deportation Cross was erected, a bust of Longfellow was acquired, and numerous Acadian pilgrimages to Grand-Pré were organized.

After serving as professor and administrator at Saint Joseph’s College in Memramcook and chaplain at Dorchester Penitentiary, Father Cormier left the Congregation of the Holy Cross Fathers in order to serve as parish priest in British Columbia. When he returned to New Brunswick in 1919, he took part in the negotiations that resulted in the acquisition of the property in Grand-Pré.

As president of the Memorial Church Committee, Father André D. Cormier organized several fundraising campaigns. In 1922, 5,000 copies of Placide Gaudet’s historical booklet called Le Grand Dérangement (The Great Upheaval) were published. In 1923, he had 25,000 copies of an engraving of the Memorial Church published. Members of the various branches of the Société mutuelle l’Assomption in the Maritimes were encouraged to buy a copy of the engraving for 10 cents in order to purchase a statue of Our Lady of the Assumption, patron saint of the Acadians. Father Cormier also organized a campaign to sell portraits of the statue for 15 cents a piece with the profits going to Grand-Pré.

In 1936, a portrait of Father André D. Cormier was unveiled in the Memorial Church to commemorate his outstanding contribution to Grand-Pré. In 2009, the Société Promotion Grand-Pré created the André-D.-Cormier Certificate in order to honour a person who has made an exceptional contribution, beyond his or her professional contributions, to the outreach and sustainability of Grand-Pré National Historic Site of Canada.

Father André Cormier, portrait by Mrs. Clarence Webster, 1924

1955 - On August 15th, 1955, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Deportation, the Province of Nova Scotia donated the bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the famous American poet who, by publishing his poem Evangeline in the States in 1847, brought the story of the Deportation, also known as the Great Upheaval, to the attention of Anglophones the world over. The bust, located on the path to the right of the Memorial Church, is a cast of the original, found in Westminster Abbey in London, England.

The bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, copy of original by Sir Thomas Brock, 1884

1956 - The Société nationale Assomption transfered the land to Parks Canada and it soon became a National Historic Site.

1985 - Parks Canada held a competition for the designing of a stained-glass window to adorn the commemorative church, support the interpretation of the Expulsion, and enhance the contemplative nature of the exhibit within. Terry Smith-Lamothe’s winning design achieves these objectives through a thoughtful integration of subject, colour and texture with traditional elements of stained-glass creation and the physical orientation of the Memorial Church itself.

The subject depicts the moment when the community of Grand-Pré is broken apart by the departure of the first Acadian families from Pointe Noire, on the shores of the Minas Basin. Cape Blomidon’s brooding presence in the background helps to locate the scene. The prevailing colour scheme of blues, purples and greys serves to emphasize the contemplative, serious atmosphere within Memorial Church. Much of the glass evokes the texture of land, waves, and sky. The red lines are made of unpainted "cathedral antique" glass, which allows sunlight to penetrate the front of the Memorial Church. The window’s southern orientation guarantees that at least once a day, particularly on September 5, the red lines will be projected onto the plaque in the front as a visible reminder of the splintering effect of the Grand Dérangement. The traditional gold border helps create a three-dimensional effect and draws the viewer to the central figures, but it also represents the artist’s personal hope for “renewal and peace for the Acadian people now and in the future, and the hope of a new dawn.”

Stained glass window by Terry Smith-Lamothe, 1985

1986 - Parks Canada commissioned six paintings representing the history of the Expulsion of the Acadians, with a view toward adding them to the exhibition in the Memorial Church of Grand-Pré. The Atlantic bureau of Parks Canada, together with an Acadian consultative committee, chose Claude Picard to carry out this project. The paintings are intended to aid in the interpretation not only of the Deportation itself, but of the Acadian’s lives before and after. Mr. Picard worked closely with historians to present an historically accurate series. These six paintings were the main medium through which the Acadians’ story is related to visitors. They continue to play an integral part in the history of the park’s interpretive program.

The Story of the Acadians in six scenes painted by Claude Picard, 1986

1986 - Acadian artist Claude Roussel, a sculptor and professor of art at Université de Moncton, created the two reliefs that surround the brass plaque at the front of theMemorial Church. The relief on the left depicts the New England militia and British soldiers. The relief on the right shows the Acadian families on their way toward the ships in the Basin. Roussel is well known for his work with contemporary materials.

Reliefs by Claude Roussel, 1986, fibreglass resin

1986 - Located on the walls behind the plaques of family names are twelve prints from an 1883 printing of Longfellow’s poem Évangéline by Felix Octavius Carr Darley. Darley’s prints were very popular in nineteenth century America.

Poem of Evangeline", Felix Octavius Carr Darley, 1986, prints

1997 - A partnership was formed between Parks Canada and the Société Promotion Grand-Pré, a non profit organization that represents the Acadian community, to co-manage Grand-Pré National Historic Site of Canada.

2003 - The new interpretive centre was built through a partnership between Parks Canada and the Société Promotion Grand-Pré, a non profit organization that represents the Acadian community. The talented architect Terry Smith-Lamothe, of the Halifax company Architect Ltd. was selected to come up with the architectural design. The overall design recalls the 1605 Habitation at Port Royal, as depicted in a sketch by Champlain: steep pyramidal (hipped) roofs, bell-cast eaves, massive chimney forms, segmented arched windows, and operable shutters. The siding and vertical trim between the windows and doors emulate the log construction of the early Acadian settlers. The colour theme of the centre matches the Acadian flag, though in more muted hues. Two tree images are repeated in the centre: the maple, captured in the light fixtures in the foyer; and the willow, captured in the silver post in front of the main doors. In addition, the atrium trusses are designed to represent a family tree. Lamothe designed the centre’s eaves to be attractive to swallows; their returning to nest here every spring is a living emblem of the hope of the Acadians’ return.

Champlain's Sketch of Port Royal

The Visitor Centre

2003 - Susan Tooke, a Halifax artist, created the visual component of the account of the Deportation from a child’s perspective. She also did the illustrations on the panels in the Interpretation Hall.

2004 - The Société Promotion Grand-Pré invited François Gaudet, guide interpreter and photographer, to create a collection of twenty photos entitled "The Four Seasons at Grand-Pré".

"The Four Seasons" by François Gaudet

2004 - The Société Promotion Grand-Pré commissioned a mural to hang in the main entrance of the Visitor Centre. The artist Wayne Boucher was selected, and he created the mural entitled "Réveil". This mural represents the past, present, and future of the Acadian people. Wayne Boucher’s representation of the Acadian flag captures all the important elements of Grand-Pré. The Deportation Cross forms the anchor of the painting. Continuity with the architecture of the interpretive centre is achieved through the diagonal white lines in the centre and the black lines on the perimeter of the mural, which extend the lines of the rafters. The diagonal white lines also recall the shape of a ship’s hull. In the white section of the flag lie the fields, the ‘grand-pré’ itself. In the blue is Cape Blomidon, a prominent geographical feature of this region, towards which the shades of Acadian men, women and children verge. Wisps of white smoke trail above the Cape in the shape of a map of the Minas Basin. Beneath is the commemorative church, with its stained glass window and the red line that traverses it put in relief. The red section of the flag contains a representation of the fires that destroyed many of the Acadian villages, but its colouring also represents the passion and pride of the Acadian people, despite the many sorrows of the ‘Grand Dérangement’. (Sponsored by the Tauck Foundation, and Gaston Chagnon)

The mural "Réveil" by Wayne Boucher, 2004, oil on canvas

2005 - Although not located in the park itself, the Deportation Cross, made in gothic style, is an important Acadian symbol and commemorative piece. It was erected in 1924 by the Comité de l’Église-Souvenir, originally near a dry creek bed in the middle of the “grand-pré”, as depicted in the painting below by Denise Comeau. In 2005 it was moved to Horton Landing (Pointe Noire), the place where the Acadians of Grand-Pré embarked in the fall and winter of 1755. It now stands beside a monument to the New England Planters, who came in the 1760s, encouraged by the Nova Scotia government to farm the rich lands the Acadians had created through dyking. The artist also did a brass rubbing of the inscription of the cross which reads: The dry bed of the creek which is in sight, a few paces in the marsh is the SPOT where the victims of the Expulsion of the Acadians of 1755 were embarked on small boats to be rowed over to the transport ships lying at anchor in Minas Basin.

"Déportation Cross", 2006, photo by Victor Tétrault

Denise Comeau, 1997, watercolour and rubbing

2006 - Société Promotion Grand-Pré commissioned a sculpture in bronze in 2004 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Great Upheaval. This work of art is created by the artists Jules Lasalle and André Fournelle who brilliantly fulfill the vision of the members of the Board of the Société Promotion Grand-Pré. The sculpture was unveiled on September 3rd, 2006. This sculpture depicts an Acadian family during the Deportation.

"The Deportation" bronze sculptures by Jules Lasalle and André Fournelle, 2006

2007 - As the park’s first Artist in Residence, Georgette Bourgeois, an Acadian from New Brunswick, created a series of nine paintings, entitled L’Esprit de Grand-Pré. A number of donors bought the paintings and donated them to the Société Promotion Grand-Pré. Bourgeois explains the creation of this series in the following way: “I experienced strong emotions. In each of these works I have added symbols which attempt to capture the spirit of the past, as well as the emotions and memorable experiences that one can have while visiting the Grand-Pré region of Nova Scotia.” Between seasons, the artist takes the series on a promotional tour for Grand-Pré at different venues across the country.

Georgette Bourgeois, 2006-2007, "The Spirit of Grand-Pré" series, oil on canvas

2011 - The sculptors Louis-Philippe Hébert (1850-1917) and Henri Hébert (1884-1950) gave this maquette of the statue of Evangeline to the poet Alphonse Désilets of Québec City. In his will, the poet bequeathed the maquette to Lorraine Allain Robitaille from Bouctouche, New Brunswick, who later entrusted it to Pierre Cormier of Bouctouche. On October 28th, 2011, Pierre Cormier donated it to the Société Promotion Grand-Pré. The maquette is on permanent display in the Grand-Pré Art Gallery at Grand-Pré National Historic Site.

Maquette of Statue of Évangéline

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