MARYLAND’S ACADIAN HERITAGE

I drove down to Princess Anne today to see the unveiling of the Acadian Highway marker.  A nice size crowd turned out of about 30 people.  They had some really good speakers.  It started at 3 pm and was over with by 4 pm. 

 

As in Delmar the Princess Anne Police had the street blocked off so no one would be hurt by passing cars.  Since this park is behind the police station it wasn't a long walk for them.  The park was selected because this is about where the Acadians disembarked. 

A striking person due to her height was Marie Rundquist, author of Revisiting Anne Marie: How an Amerindian Woman of Seventeenth-Century Nova Scotia and a DNA Match Redefine “American” Heritage and Cajun by Any Other Name: Recovering the Lost History of a Family and a People.

She spoke of how pleased she was Maryland finally had an Acadian marker as in her search for family history she has travel from Nova Scotia to Louisiana and Maryland had no marker (she lives in Maryland)

 

 

and below is the Maryland highway marker unveiled.  The marker sets at an intersection with stop signs so travelers will have a few moments to read the sign before moving on.

Besides Marie Rundquist, Nancy Kurtz of the The Maryland Historical Trust spoke about the marker

 

By far the most interesting speaker was Marty Guidry an Acadian genealogist and historian from Louisiana, who  has studied the culture, language, history and genealogy of the Acadians for over 40 years. I thought he might deliver a boring speech on general Acadian history but he was quit specific about those who came to Princess Anne and those who traveled from princess Anne to Snow Hill. 

A Somerset Commissioner happily spoke only a few words as the heat was getting to everyone. 

July 28th was picked for this unveiling as on July 28, 1755, British Governor Charles Lawrence signed the deportation order, which set in motion Le Grand Dérangement or the Great Upheaval. The Acadians were exiled from their homeland of l’Acadie, and from 1755 until 1763, an estimated third of their population perished as a result. While many of the Acadians eventually found their way to Louisiana and reestablished a community, their descendants remained a people in exile until 2003, when Queen Elizabeth II signed a Royal Proclamation. This Proclamation stated July 28^th is the official day in which the world will remember the Acadians’ suffering as a result of Le Grand Dérangement and their subsequent exile.

I enjoyed this as I learn a little bit about a piece of history I had never paid any attention to.