of the country. His coming dates but a short time after Pierre Melanson’s arrival. Terriot selected the fine situation near Kentville, upon the present Cornwallis River, with natural conditions similar to the Gaspereau Valley. Good upland for farms, and extensive areas of marsh near the head of the tidal stream, afforded favorable means for the development of his farming operations. His home on the south side of the river was ten miles from Melanson’s, and the expansion of growth was each toward the other. The farm areas soon extended alongside the marshes into what became the Grand-Pré district.

Pierre Terriot, like Melanson, came out from Port Royal, where his father had settled before him. Port Royal was the parent colony (1632, under Commander Razilly) from which all the Acadian districts received their first colonists.

Pierre Terriot was a colonizer, and an interesting figure in the early days of Minas. Although he had no children by his wife Cécile Landry, he encouraged migration from Port Royal to the wilderness, the rich country of Minas that surrounded him. Young couples soon came, relatives of the Terriots and Landrys, and others, who for a time enlarged their holdings more rapidly than those who came to Grand-Pré and Gaspereau. The founder, Terriot, who was in good circumstances, aided the newcomers with grain and stock, and as has always been the custom of the Acadians, the settled people cut the timber, built the foundations and homes, and helped the young couples to start in life.

Pierre Terriot’s home was, moreover, the asylum for orphans and widows, till the children grew up and were able to set up for themselves. The settlers married young, and were encouraged to do so, for they were a home-loving people, and industrious.

The Terriots numbered about fifty, and were also settled in other parts of Nova Scotia. This region seemed to attract the younger people from the older and more thickly settled country of Port Royal. It was favorably situated, more remote from the New England colonies, and so conditioned that all who came could acquire land and make homes.

At Annapolis Royal
The Old Port Royal

At Annapolis Royal—once the busy capital—one is struck by the peace and content which seems to reign everywhere, and perhaps the most peaceful spot is amongst the grass-grown ramparts of the old Fort—softened and rounded by time, and in summer carpeted with wild flowers. A magnificent sweep of the wide river mouth lies in front, and the Fort, built on a high bluff, looks over the valleys of the Lequille and Annapolis Rivers on either hand. The buildings still standing are the officers’ quarters, which are interesting, and no doubt were considered luxurious in those days, and the old powder magazine, built nearly three centuries ago, and still in excellent repair. A horrible dark dungeon, chill and damp, is built under the ramparts at one angle, and the picturesque sally port is still much as it was in olden days.

Next to the Grand-Pré Park land, the New Minas relics of the Terriot settlements and the work of their descendants are the most numerous and interesting. Many cellar foundations remain as they were left in 1755 after the houses and barns were burned. The English colonists of 1760 raised their houses farther away from the marshes, so that the Terriot landmarks for the greater part still remain undisturbed. Some of their houses were forty-five feet square, with huge chimneys built outside ten feet square at the ground, traces of which still remain.

The Le Blancs (Grand-Pré)

Among the later arrivals were the Le Blancs, whose children added considerably to the growth of population, and whose importance and prosperity make them outstanding persons in the country.

The first Le Blanc was Daniel, born in France in 1626. Thousands of his descendants are to be found in America to-day. He arrived in Acadia in 1650, with his wife, Françoise Gaudet. He settled in Port Royal about nine miles above the fort. When that place fell to the English under Phipps, in 1690, Le Blanc was among those appointed to administer the affairs of the Province until the arrival of a Governor. His name is found on the census of 1671, 1686, and 1693. He had probably died before the next census in 1698, as his name does not appear then or afterwards. He lived to be about seventy years old, in spite of the trying and laborious period through which the people of Acadia lived.

The four sons of the first Port Royal Le Blanc settled upon the present Grand-Pré lands very soon after Melanson had become established on the Gaspereau and Terriot on the Cornwallis.

The village, Jean Le Blanc, in 1775, had eight families. Village Pierre Le Blanc had fourteen, and Grand Le Blanc had thirteen. The Le Blancs appeared also in other villages.

This family was related to all the older stock of Acadian families, to be found in 1755 throughout the whole of settled Nova Scotia.

The history of Grand-Pré, by which is meant, the annals of the country contiguous to the Memorial Park, the Grand-Pré of the present day, in a sense, is the family history of the Le Blancs. One member of the family, René, was an historical character.

Other Names

In the census made of Minas in 1618, about five years after Pierre Melanson’s advent to the Gaspereau, the families of

are mentioned with particulars of their worldly condition and size of family.

Three of the Minas inhabitants mentioned on the 1686 list, de la Bove, la Pierre, and Rivet, were newcomers to Acadia, and for some reason failed to make headway in the country. Their descendants were few, and the names disappear from the annals.

The Canard District

The Melansons’, Terriots’, and Le Blancs’ holdings all extended east or west, south of the Cornwallis River. North of this stream, another section was expanding, but more slowly, although conditions were favorable there for colonization.

As the Canard region become populated, crossings were made to reach the villages at low tide over the Cornwallis River. A road was made connecting the up-river settlements with Grand-Pré to the Gaspereau, where the principal centre of Minas developed, with its church, its protected landing-place and port for vessels, its store-house, and the office of the Deputy, where deeds and important documents were kept.

Thus Canard grew, and finally a beautiful church was built there. The Cornwallis River divided the parishes of Canard and Grand-Pré, but the whole region was rapidly growing in population and wealth,