The End of the Village

The Deportation of Acadians from Nova Scotia began in the summer of 1755.

Although the Acadian residents of the Annapolis Royal area were initially left at liberty, in December of 1755 about 1660 Acadians including everyone from this village, were deported.

The men, women and children, like thousands of others before them, were assembled and placed aboard vessels bound for Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, North Carolina and South Carolina. Some residents of the Melanson settlement were aboard the Pembroke, en route from Annapolis Royal to North Carolina, when they overpowered their captors and went ashore up the St. John River.

Many eventually made their way to Québec. A British officer, Captain John Knox described the melancholy result of the Deportation as he sailed up the river in October 1757:

“On each side we see the ruins of habitations, and extensive orchards well planted with apple and pear trees bending under their weight of fruit...”

A place of no return

The majority of Acadians never returned from exile. Some escaped the Deportation and others struggled to return to this region. They began to return to what are now the Maritime provinces in the 1760s. They were rarely able to resettle lands previously occupied. The Acadian story would continue in new locales, far from places like the Melanson settlement.