Stewardship and management

Founded by Charles Melanson dit La Ramée and Marie Dugas after their wedding in 1664, the Melanson Settlement was once home to almost a dozen households of family members and neighbours who farmed the land co-operatively. Using a technique that had been bought with the settlers from France, dykes were constructed along the river banks which reclaimed marshland to grow crops.

Thanks to a unique set of circumstances, this way of life which was cut short by the Acadian Deportation in 1755, has been preserved for generations to come. Because the settlement was on the approach to the fort at Port Royal (today Annapolis Royal) it was recorded in detail on maps in the 18th century. After the Deportation, the land was used by farmers who preserved the Acadian foundations.