If one is interested in the culture and history ion the people that first settled this land , then this area and specifically the Grand Pre, is worth the visit. Knowing that these 3,000 acres were built by the radians in the 1700’s is amazing in itself. That they have lasted until today due to the consistent work by the New Englanders (who replaced the Acadians when they were forced out) and more recently by the Dutch who came here after WW2, and is a testimony to the persistence and survivalist attitude of these people.
We drove the dyke road as it gave us the feelings of being on the land and one with the land, that they lived on for these 300 or more years. The dike is huge and long (28,000 feet) and even though has been reinforced since the original days, it still is a reminder of what was built by the original peoples. The Acadians also were living in harmony with the Mi’kmac people for all of those years.
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| This was the better part of the "two track" along the dyke. 2 miles. |
The drive for us was about 2 miles and a two track road that is “less traveled” for sure.
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| The dyke from on top. It has been improved since 1700, but is the basic dyke as first installed. 28,000 feet by oxen and shovels. |
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| The NE corner of Grand Pre shows the bird IBA and the edge of the dyke where we drove. Evageline Beach is just to the left of the red area. Our road was the curved line next to the gray area. |
At the end of the drive is a lookout that exposes the broad beach and tideland that the birds use on their trip to South American and again northward… two times a year. Evangeline Beach is just around the corner and we visited it again today.
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| Birds at Evangeline Beach were mostly Semi Palmated Sandpipers. |
There were a few thousand birds on the Beach today as the tide was just coming in as we had planned. We ate lunch there, took photos and enjoyed the flights and feeding of the the birds. Some were Semi- palmated Plovers.
A side trip to Mills where we had been told there were Eagles, was true. A lady indicated that the sign that we had seen on the side of the road of an Eagle head was for September, but if we looked over the trees “There”…we would see an Eagle. There it was soaring above the trees,. We did see 8 Bald Eagles today.
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| The Bald Eagle just before we drove the dyke road. We saw 8 that day. |
Many crops are raised here as the soil in the Annapolis Valley is very good. There were carrot fields, potato fields and many hundreds of acres of onions, just about ready to be harvested. Some had already been “turned” for drying.
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| Onions were one crop seen many times |
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| Potatoes were seen but not as often. |
It was a good day and ended with trip to “Sobey’s Market” for groceries. Tomorrow we will get the laundry caught up and hopefully have time for a trip to Cape Blomidon, the home of “Glooscap” who keeps a watchful eye on his people.
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| Semipalmated Sandpipers in flight |
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| Same birds on the beach. They are gathering/feeding for the big trip to South America. |
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