Early Acadian Settlements
The first 17th century Acadian settlements along the Annapolis River.
Port Royal
The Habitation at Port Royal was founded in 1605 by Pierre Du Gua de Mons. The body of water that the Habitation was established on was called Port Royal.
In 1613, the short-lived Habitation at Port Royal was sacked and burned by troops from Virginia. The name Port Royal survived though. In the 1630s Acadian families from France arrived to settle and farm the area.
A fort was constructed at the confluence of the rivière Dauphin (the Annapolis River) and Allain Creek. A community was founded outside the ramparts of the fort.
Reproduction of Acadie Census Map of 1707, as per Delabat from the O'Dell House Museum .
The settlement that grew up around the fort became the largest Acadian community. It was the capital of the colony and a diverse population of people from around the world could be found in its streets, including people from all parts of the the French empire, and the English and people from their nearby colonies. Mi’kmaq were also part of this community and their names are found in the records of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste parish records that have survived.
The settlement prospered despite the continued wars between the French and English. Port Royal was the capital of Acadia from 1605 to 1710. Between 1650 and 1750 Port Royal grew from a tiny handful of houses around the fort to a settlement of about 2000 inhabitants.
Melanson Village
Charles Melanson came from England in 1657 and in 1664 married Marie Dugas. Shortly after, they settled about 6 kilometres downstream from the town at Port Royal on the north shore of the Basin. Working with neighbouring families, a dyke was built across extensive marshland and a farm with fields, upland gardens, and an orchard with up to 75 trees. Charles and Marie had a large family. Many of these children settled nearby. Four generations of the Melanson family lived there until the Deportation. The settlement seems to have reached its greatest size around 1714 with 9 households, 16, adults, 25 children, 75 cattle, 48 pigs, and 106 sheep.
Allain's River
This river was named after Louis Allain, born in France in 1654 and married at Port Royal in 1690 to Marguerite Bourg. Allain was one of the leading Acadians of the community. He received a concession of 100 acres just south of the fort at Port Royal on July 3, 1687. He built a sawmill and had several ships that docked there for trading. In the 1698 census, we find Louis, his wife Marguerite Bourg, children, 10 cattle, 12 sheep, 8 hogs, 5 1/2 arpents of cultivated land, 31 fruit trees, 4 guns, and 1 servant.
Bourg Village
Antoine Bourg was born in France in 1609. He married Antoinette Landry and came to Acadie around 1636. They established themselves on the west bank of the rivière Dauphin (Annapolis River today), and their settlement eventually became known as the "hameau des Bourg" or "Bourg Village" In the 1671 census, Antoine is listed as a labourer and along with Antoinette, there are 11 children. Four of them are married. The community was a tight-knit family.
Brun Village
This was the homestead of Vincent Brun, who was born in France in the year 1611. He came to Acadie with his wife Renée Breau around 1648. Their farm was likely situated several kilometres upstream from the fort at Port Royal, on the north bank of the Dauphin (Annapolis River) and to the east of the Belleisle Marsh. He died in 1728, leaving four sons, each of whom had a large family. In the 1671 census, Vincent is listed with his wife Renée, 5 children, 10 cattle, 4 sheep, and 5 acres of cultivated land.
Barnabé Village
This village was named after Barnabé Martin who came to Acadie in 1632 with de Razilly. In 1666, he married Jeanne Pelletray. Barnabé Village was across the Dauphin from Pierre Thibodeau’s Prée-Ronde (Round Hill). In the 1671 census, Barnabé is listed as a ploughman. He and Jeanne were living with two young children. About 5 acres of their land (in two places) was cultivated and they had 2 cattle and 3 sheep.
Belle-Isle
This place took its name from Alexandre LeBorgne, Sieur de Belle-Isle. He was born at La Rochelle in France in 1643.
Emmanuel LeBorgne, his father, took possession of the estates of Governer d’Aulnay. This included a large marsh containing more than 1500 acres which then took his name. D’Aulnay had already dyked the marsh.
Matthieu Martin, the first child born in Acadie, was born here around 1637. The village grew to have around 30 families with a population of around 165 people. The parish of Saint-Laurent was founded here as a mission of the parish at Port Royal. Oral history tells us that Pierre Martin planted the first apples in Nova Scotia here.
LeBlanc Village
Daniel LeBlanc, born in France in 1626 came to Acadie with Françoise Gaudet his wife in 1650 and settled on the north bank of the rivière Dauphin (now the Annapolis River), to the northeast of the marsh at Belle-Isle, about 15 kilometres above the fort at Port Royal and about a half mile below the chapel of Saint-Laurent. In the 1671 census, the homestead comprised of 10 arpents of cultivated land. This acreage was fairly large for the settlement. The family also had 18 cattle and 26 sheep. They had 6 sons and 1 daughter, all of whom married and had large families.
Gaudet Village
This village was situated on the rivière Dauphin (Annapolis) at the head of tide where Bridgetown is today. It was founded as the homestead of Denis Gaudet. He was born in France in 1621, and married at Port Royal in 1645 to Martine Gauthier. There were at least ten Acadian settlers in the area before the French census of 1671, and the population doubled by 1707.
Bastarache Village
This village was named after Jean Bastarache. He was born in France around 1658 and married at Port Royal in 1684 to Huguette Vincent. In the 1707 census they were recorded as having 4 children, 2 and a half arpents of cultivated land, 8 cattle, 20 sheep, 4 hogs, and 3 guns. This village was located east of the fort at Port Royal.
Paradis Terrestre
In the 1680s the French government sent officials to survey the area for the presence of timber suitable for shipbuilding. A map produced by one of them, Sieur Lalanne, labels what is now Paradise as Paradis Terrestre. A census compiled in 1687-88 noted that Paradise had 432 inhabitants.
René Forest Village
René Forest was born at Port Royal in 1670. He married Françoise Dugas around 1696. The census of 1707 reveals the couple had 6 children, 8 arpents of land under cultivation, 14 cattle, 24 sheep, 15 hogs, and 1 gun. The village was located downstream of Gaudet Village (Bridgetown) near the head of tide in the rivière Dauphin (Annapolis)
Hébert Village
Antoine Hébert, son of Étienne Hébert and Marie Gaudet, established this community on the south side of the river. He was born in 1670 and married in 1691 to Jeanne Corporon. They had 12 children. The small community was located on the south bank of the rivière Dauphin (Annapolis) across from Forest Village and Gaudet Village (Bridgetown).
Girouard Village
This village was settled by Jacques Girouard who was born at Port Royal in 1648. It was located on the south side of the rivière Dauphin (Annapolis) across from the community of Belle-Isle. It was at the site of what is now called Tupperville. In the year 1669, Jacques married Marguerite Gautrot. By 1698, they owned 20 cattle, 30 sheep, 12 hogs, 48 arpents of land, 18 fruit trees and 1 gun. There were 12 children in their household. Six of his sons settled on the south side of the river as the small settlement grew.
Prée-Ronde
French families began farming in this area very early in the colony. It is said that the village was established by Pierre Thibodeau who arrived in Acadie in 1654. He acquired a large concession of land near a large meander on the south bank of the Dauphin (Annapolis River) 9 kilometres east of the fort at Port Royal. This was at the mouth of a brook called Des-Loups-Marins. He built house, a farm, and prosperous flour and saw mills powered by the water of the brook. In the 1701 census, Pierre and Jeanne are recorded with 8 children, 7 guns, 30 cattle, 25 sheep, 12 hogs, 19 arpents of land under cultivation.
Thibodeau Village
An alternate name for the village of Prée-Ronde.
Explore Further
The interactive map below contains the names of Acadians found on a 1707 census. Use the slider to see where the settlement would be today. Zoom in, select a settlement, find out more about the inhabitants in the genealogy link in the popup.
Acadian settlements placed on a modern map, based on the reproduction of Acadie Census Map of 1707, as per Delabat.
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