The Berwick Register, Thursday May 25

Grand Pre abuzz over aboiteau

John DeCoste
The Kings County Register

Staff at Grand Pre’s national historic site was abuzz May 19 following the accidental discovery of a virtually-intact Acadian aboiteau.

The apparatus, constructed by the Acadian pioneers to control the tides and reclaim land for farming, was uncovered by local excavators that morning while ditching on private land about a kilometre north of the Grand Pre visitors’ centre.

Park executive director Victor Tetrault termed the discovery “both exciting and significant.” The aboiteau was not only found in its original location, but also appeared to be “virtually intact in terms of the working apparatus.

“For a site like ours, it's like winning the lottery,” he said. “There have been pieces of them found here, but not virtually the whole thing.”

Along with its historical significance, “we'll be able to clean it up and set it up on-site as a working display.”

Tetrault added, while the actual age of the aboiteau will need to be verified by experts, supervisor of maintenance Wayne Kelley, who has worked at the park for 31 years, estimates it’s “likely more than 300 years old,” dating back to the earliest days of the Grand Pre settlement in the 1680s.

“We know from our research that the village was up on the hill behind us, we know where the dykes were and we know when they were built,” Kelley said. In terms of an archeological find, “this is what it's all about.”

Tetrault, executive director at the park since last summer, was impressed the excavator operator “had the foresight to realize what it was. A lot of people probably would have just thrown it aside.”

Actually, the operator immediately showed the find to local farmer Robert Palmeter, who called Kelley right away.

“It's an indication of the kind of relationship we've always had with the local farming community,” he said.

Park officials are especially excited the aboiteau is so well-preserved, especially the working mechanism, or clappeau - the hinged valve made of wood that shut the aboiteau against the rising tide and swung free when the tide was falling.

“We're incredibly lucky,” Tetrault said. “If they had been digging even a short distance on either side, they could easily have missed it altogether” in one direction, or damaged it beyond repair in the other.

Parks Canada officials, geologists and archeologists were expected on-site before the end of the day to examine the find. Park officials plan to clean it up and make it part of their permanent display.

To Grand Pre interpretive guide Susan Surette-Draper, who has worked at the park for the past five years and is an Acadian descendant from the Yarmouth County area, the find is “something that's real, that brings our history to life.

“We have a lot of history here, but most of it is hidden and not visible,” she said. “We know it's there, and it's obviously not far away - not if you can dig it up that easily - but most of it isn't anything you can touch or hold in your hands.

“There's a whole culture under the ground.”