As predicted I did not take any photos of the old cars at the Show and Shine in Bathurst.  Shocker!

Today we left Bathurst after two days of down time and itinerary planning.  We have worked out a circuit to see the Maritimes: Eastern New Brunswick, to PEI, to Nova Scotia going counter-clockwise to end up in Sydney to take the ferry to Newfoundland, returning to the mainland and doing the north east of Nova Scotia, back up to New Brunswick for the south coast and the west.  Kind of makes a loop.  Most of the things we plan to see in NB are along the south and west, which we won’t see until quite a bit later.  But we did want to drive the Acadian Peninsula on the east coast and cross the bridges to the two Acadian Islands of Lemèque and Miscou to Land’s end.

On the tip of the Acadian Peninsula is the town of Caraquet where there is a New Brunswick Provincial Park – The Acadian Heritage Park.  It contains about 40 authentic 1820-1905 houses from the area around Caraquet that were moved to the site to preserve the buildings of the French (Acadians) who settled here after being expelled by the British from Quebec in 1755 because they would not swear an unconditional oath of allegiance to the British king.  They were willing to swear a conditional oath; the condition being that they would not be made to fight against their former French comrades and Mic-Mac allies.   This was unacceptable to the king.

We spent almost 3 hours at the park.  They have people in period costume doing 19th century work and crafts in each building.  They explain who the house belonged to, info about the family – number of children, occupation, when it was built and any special features.  They also do the work of the owner of the house, or in the case of the women the evening or winter crafts.

  

  Carding and coloring wool

Making a hook rug

and spinning flax to make linen

The blacksmith

 Making brooms

Straw hats from barley stalks

The grist mill – grinding flour and putting it into sacks.

You can even stay in this hotel

  the tinsmith  the cobbler

  New friendsu

New Brunswick was the first bi-lingual province so almost everyone is fluent in English and French.  They converse with each other in French but switch to English as soon as they hear “Hello” instead of “Bonjour.”  They are fiercely proud of their heritage and the Acadian Flag (French flag with a yellow star in the upper left corner) is flown everywhere.  Many houses have the flag painted on lobster traps on the lawn, on mini-lighthouses, on their family name sign on the house, on light posts and mailboxes.

  More wildlifeWe didn’t make any more tourist stops – except a quick couple of photos of the fishing boats at Shippagan and the  lighthouse at Land’s End (the easternmost part of NB) before a drive down the south coast of the peninsula to Miramichi for the night.