The Research Question

At 3:00pm on September 5, 1755, 418 Acadian men and boys arrived at the Church of Saint-Charles-des-Mines at Grand-Pré. They had been summoned by Lieutenant Colonel John Winslow, the commander of a detachment of New England soldiers stationed at Grand-Pré, to hear a proclamation from the British government.

When the last of the Acadians had entered the church, Winslow ordered the doors locked. He then read the Deportation Order, informing the Acadians that they were under arrest, and that their homes, land, and livestock were now the property of the crown. They and their families would soon be deported from the colony of Nova Scotia.

Winslow's men burned to the ground all of the Acadian communities around Grand-Pré. That winter, the snow blanketed the blackened timbers of the deserted Acadian villages.

In 1760, settlers from New England arrived. These 'New England Planters' (Planter is the old word for settler) farmed the land for generations, until virtually no traces remained of the old Acadian villages. However, the memory of these villages survived in oral traditions.

Between 1880 and 1910, treasure hunters and antiquarians began exploring a field next to the Grand-Pré marsh, where a line of ancient willows grew. Local legend suggested that this was the site of the long lost Acadian church that had served as a prison on that fateful day in 1755. They dug holes and unearthed artifacts, even coffins, and later claimed to have found the ruins of the old church. Then, in 1922, the Acadian community built a memorial church on these very ruins. Eventually, this parcel of land became Grand-Pré National Historic Site of Canada.

Despite the work of generations of researchers, one key question remains: Is this really the site of the Acadian Parish Church of Saint-Charles-des-Mines? While the treasure hunters and antiquarians had good intentions, they did not have archaeological training, and they left practically no records of their work. How, then, can we trust their conclusions about the location of the church?

Your research question for this virtual excavation is: Where exactly is the Acadian Church of Saint-Charles-des-Mines?

To answer this question, you must first conduct a little background research and find valuable clues in the historical evidence. You may then become a virtual archaeologist and explore the many archaeological sites within Grand-Pré National Historic Site. Be sure to record your findings in your field notebook.

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