DAY
NINETEEN
We are staying pretty close to the
cottage today, spending a relatively quiet day.
We went into Annapolis Royal to use the internet at the public
library. I can bring my laptop computer
and sit at one of their tables and use their internet without charge so I
checked email and wrote a post for my blog.
Afterwards we drove up the road that
leads to Granville Ferry. It is a road
that parallels the road that goes into Annapolis Royal for a while and then it
bends away and follows the course of the Annapolis River which also runs
through Annapolis Ferry. Both
communities are across the river from one another. The historical guide for the tour we took
recently told us that there was a ferry between the two places for many years
and that is why it has the name. Back in
the 1800s a person could cross the river on a ferry for a penny. If a person brought livestock with them on
the ferry it cost an additional penny.
The road took us through the village
of Granville Ferry which is a very nice community, with large houses lining the
road. It is interesting to note that
there are two large white churches in the community and neither is being used
as churches any longer. One has been
converted into a home and the other is being remodeled to become a museum or
community center. There is an Anglican
Church still in use just beyond the community on that road but no others. It may be that since the community is so near
the larger town of Annapolis Ferry that the church goers drive the short
distance and the churches there could not survive.
The road continued to a historic
site called the Melanson Settlement which is where Acadian pioneers had built a
village back in the 1600s and remained there until they were sent away by the
British during the Expulsion in 1755.
The pioneers had reclaimed land near the river using dykes built to
drain the land and rid it of the salt that was deposited by the Bay of
Fundy. The land had been given to New
England Planters after the Expulsion and it remained in their families until
the country of Canada had an archaeological dig on this land and found many
historic relics that could be connected to the Acadians. Today, there are information boards that give
information about the Acadians who had lived there and trails to walk to see
where the digs that happened in the 1980s took place.
Past the Melanson Settlement is Port
Royal which is a historical re-enactment village that has been erected to
demonstrate what life was like for the first persons who for France when he visited
in 1605 and established a fort called Port Royal. It is located where the Annapolis River pours
into the Bay of Fundy. The town of
Annapolis Royal was the capital of Nova Scotia for many years until Halifax was
given that honor. Port Royal buildings
are built to resemble the original ones that stood there and persons are in
costume portraying persons who lived and worked at Port Royal at the time. This area was always in dispute between the
French and British until the British finally won out and Port Royal was renamed
Fort Anne to honor Queen Anne of England.
We visited Port Royal in 2011 when we were here so we did not stop there
today.
We continued driving on the road
through several small communities until we reached the end of the road at Victoria
Beach. The name sounds as if it would be
a nice place to walk around but actually it is just a beach covered with rocks
that are exposed at low tide and covered with water otherwise. We stopped and looked and then drove back to
Annapolis Royal to find some lunch.
The afternoon was spent around our
cottage reading and resting and visiting with our neighbor, who is a retired
professor from Montreal. She is an
accomplished artist and took us into her studio to see some of her artwork,
some of which is still being completed.
She is a widow and a bit of a recluse but she has taken a liking to Bo
and she loves to pet him and talk to him.
She showed us through her garden which is the source for some of her
inspiration for her artwork. She paints
many flowers and trees and includes wildlife found around Parker’s Cove in her
paintings. She gave us some lettuce and
chives from her garden today for our evening meal. She is a widow and
since her husband died in the last two years she has not been as outgoing since
she cared for him during the last years of his life and has been trying to be
on her own since then. She is a German
by birth but has been a Canadian citizen for over forty years. She is very educated and intelligent.
A few years ago I read the biography
of Vincent van Gogh entitled, Lust for Life. I was impressed with the language that was
quoted that van Gogh used to describe the French countryside that he painted
especially the land and sea in Provence.
He talked about how bright and brilliant the colors were, how they
seemed alive and sometimes they were so brilliant that it was hard to contain
how beautiful they appeared to him.
I have had that same experience
several times this week when I have looked at the countryside in this area of
Nova Scotia. Driving on country roads or
standing on a rocky beach looking out at the ocean, suddenly the color of the
grass and the sky and the sea has been powerful to me. I was standing with Doris talking to the
neighbor at our nearest cottage and looked out over the bay just past the porch
of our cottage. The sun was shining
brightly and the water looked especially blue to me. The grass in my view between me and the sea
looked a brilliant green and all at once I felt this powerful feeling of joy in
simply being here and seeing this peaceful scene.
I felt the same feelings last
Saturday as we drove down the Shore Road and saw the fields growing crops
between the road and the bay. The colors
of sea, sky, and field were tremendous, rich in depth and stunning to look
at. It is difficult to describe just how
it felt to see this rich beauty and to give thanks all at once for what I was
seeing. A great serenity seemed to fill
my spirit at that time-- A deep peace for being in this place at this time with
this gift of nature before me.
“It
is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by
night…How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep!” (Psalm
92:1-2, 5)
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