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 We
awoke early in Moncton, and
drove around a little, stopping at a mall to get New Brunswick T-Shirts
and keychains. We drove on to PEI, diverting from the main road into
the small town of Cape Tormentine. This was the launching point for
the PEI ferry, until the recent construction of the eight mile long
Confederation bridge, and was famous to us from the Stompin Tom
Conners song, with the line about how his PEI-homesickness
always peaked as he waited there. Of course, the little town is
now a ghost town. We stopped in the old train station, now converted
to a visitors center to read brochures and maps. Then returned to the
bridge, paid the toll, and headed across to the "Crescent
in the Gulf". |
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 We
stopped at the Prince
Edward Island welcome center, and quickly arranged a room for
that night in Charlottetown. That done we decided to visit the west
half of PEI today, and eastern half tomorrow. |
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 Along
the south and east coast of PEI, was this bizarre attraction called
"The Bottle House" (Maisons de Bouteilles). Jesse and Lyn
went in, while I updated the GPS. It was, indeed, a structure
constructed of various colored glass bottles encased in mortar. You
might imagine that the effect is something similar to stained glass
when backlit by daylight, just a little stranger. They were doing
their best to make a living, so we did our best to help, by picking
up our first set of PEI souvenirs here. |
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  We
learned that PEI was one of the ancestral homes of the Acadians,
the French settlers that were run off by the British during the
various political realignments during America's colonial era. Many
relocated to French Louisiana, settling in and around New Orleans and
have their name corrupted to "Cajuns". It was these
Acadians that are the root of French-Canadians known today as
Francophones, Quebecois, and oftentimes French separatists.
Prince Edward Island was originally named Ile Saint Jean, and has
always been an extremely fertile land of bountiful harvests and
excellent fishing. To our surprise, the french language influence did
not end in Montreal and Quebec city, but followed us across the Gaspe
peninsula, PEI, and to the western coast of Nova Scotia (the British
name "New Scotland") including Grand Pre.
Acadians main cultural story is captured in the famous epic poem
"Evangeline" written by Longfellow. It is the tale of an
Acadian woman separated from her true love by the British
deportations. At an Acadian cultural and history center, we saw
pictures of some famous paintings about the story. Later, to our
surprise, we ran into the originals in Grand Pre, Nova Scotia.
Read about our May 2001 "Ozark/Cajun"
vacation where we stood under the mythical "Evangeline Oak"
in St Martinville, Louisiana; celebrated as the place where
Evangeline and Gabriel finally reunited |
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Click Here to link to the informative Acadian-Cajun
Genealogy-History Site
(where I found this map) |
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Original Web Upload December 2000
Last Update: September 16, 2001 |
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Moncton to PEI