The recreation office is only open from 9 am to 1 pm Monday to Friday.
This Monument commemorates the Acadian Families that settled in the area between 1664 and 1755.
Charles Melanson and Marie Dugas settled here about 1664. Eight of their fourteen children eventually built homes nearby, as did one unrelated couple, Jean Roy and Marie Aubois. For more than nine decades this settlement grew to include houses, farm buildings, orchards and upland gardens.
The areas in which the Acadians settled here and elsewhere in what now called Nova Scotia – were part of the traditional territory of Mi’kmaq. For the Mi’kmaq, the Annapolis Basin and its shoreline were located in a district known as Kespukwik, one of seven Mi’kmaq districts in the Maritimes and the Gaspe region of Quebec. The Mi’kmaq assisted and welcomed the first French colonists with Pierre Dugua le Sieur de Mons, to Port Royal 1605. In the years that followed the Mi’kmaq maintained close relations with the French and Acadians settlers in this and other areas. There are no known specific Mi’kmaw associations with the Melanson settlement, yet there were a large number of Mi’kmaq in the vicinity. In 1708, census takers recorded 102 Mi’kmaw men, women and children living in the Port Royal area. The closest Mi’kmaw community today is Bear River First Nation, 30 km away.
Remember to pick up one of the historical postcards from each of all the 2017 geocaches and then to deliver them to County of Annapolis Recreation Office at 271 Granville Street Bridgetown, Nova Scotia. Once completed, fill in the quick survey/passport for your limited edition trackable geocoin. Have fun!