Make a joyful noise, enjoy National Acadian Day!

Acadian flag

Today, August 15th, is National Acadian Day. One of the ways to celebrate is by Tintamarre -- walk in the streets with the Acadian flag and make a loud noise. Use instruments or bang pots and pans, have fun and celebrate Acadian culture. August 15th was chose as National Acadian Day because it is the Feast Day of Our Lady of the Assumption, the patron saint of the Acadians.

In Albert County, NB, Acadians created the groundwork (literally) for our communities. Acadian settlers converted wetlands and forest into productive farmland – land that was later used by immigrants from Germany, the British Isles and the United States.

In 1698, Pierre Thibodeau and his seven sons, along with Pierre Gaudet, settled in Shepody or Chipoudie (between Hopewell Cape and Riverside-Albert). The men and their descendants cleared land. After cutting down trees, limbs and logs that weren’t used were burned. The ashes were spread on the land and helped to “sweeten” the soil (reduce acidity in the same way that an application of lime does).

In the marshlands, they dug canals, built dykes and made “aboiteaux.” This ingenious system involves a wooden box in the dyke between land and saltwater. The wooden flag moves only one way – it allows fresh water to drain from the crop land but doesn’t allow seawater to contaminate fields.

We don’t know exactly what crops were grown in Shepody, but in 1689 Acadian settlers near Aulac and Beaubassin raised cattle, sheep and hogs and grew rye, flax, barley, hemp, corn and tobacco. Water wheels were used to grind grain into flour. It is likely the farmers in Shepody grew the same or similar crops.

The Acadians were forced off their land by the British in the expulsion of 1755. Signs of their time on the land can be seen across Albert County – in the dykes and drained fields, some still used for farming.

On National Acadian Day, we can take time to honour our past and celebrate Acadian culture. Honk your horn, wave a flag and enjoy a great meal.

This is part of Growing Together – a project which celebrates Canada's 150th year through food, seeds and stories! This has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada. 

2017 Anglophone East Regional Heritage Fair

The Albert County Museum was bustling with activity on Wednesday, May 10 as Anglophone East students came to spend the day participating in the 2017 Regional Heritage Fair.

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Students from five middle schools proudly displayed their creative and innovative heritage projects of varied themes and project categories in the Community Hall. Judges interviewed the students and assessed the projects based on specific evaluation criteria for the special juried awards, as well as other prizes. But, the day included much more than the judging!

Enrichment activities included each student “Painting a Mosaic Tile”. This activity is part of a Canada 150 project which will result in a large mosaic being created by a professional artist using the painted tiles from all the Regional Heritage Fairs throughout the school districts in the province. The finished provincial mosaic will then be displayed at Government House in Fredericton.

In the historic Courthouse built in 1904, the students also enjoyed the presentation of historical vignettes by the summer students from the William Henry Steeves House Museum in Hillsborough. The costumed actors portrayed the inhabitants of the Albert County region of Canada, beginning with the Aboriginal Mi'kmaq, then the Acadians, followed by the German immigrants of the Stief family, and English loyalists. The last vignette portrayed the celebration of Dominion Day, July 1, 1867.

This year the RHF students were present for the special ceremonial planting of a Vimy oak tree presented to the Museum by the Vimy Foundation. The students learned of the significance of the Vimy oak tree being planted at the Albert County Museum. At the Museum is a WWI German K-14 cannon captured by a Canadian Battalion at the Battle of Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917. The German cannon, a war trophy of Canada, was awarded to Albert County for winning the Victory Loan campaign of 1919.

Following the planting of the Vimy oak tree, the Awards Ceremony took place in the Courthouse.

The following students were recipients of the Regional Heritage Juried Awards and other prizes.

Naiya Istvanffy, grade 5 student from Dorchester Consolidated School, received the Provincial Showcase Award. Naiya was selected to represent ASD-E with her project “The Mothers of Confederation” at the Provincial Heritage Fair to be held June 23-25 at the Albert County Museum, Hopewell Cape, NB.

Naiya Istvanffy also received the Young Citizen's Award so she will be creating a 2-3 minute video about her project to be submitted to the History Society of Canada website.

Dominick Fournier (Dorchester Consolidated) received the NB Historic Places Award for his project “The History of Westmorland”.

Kassi Stuart (Riverview East) received the NB St. Croix Award for her project “Blockhouses and Forts of New Brunswick”.

Cadence Nelson (Dorchester Consolidated) received the NB Aboriginal Affairs Award for her project about The Maliseet Tribe and First Nations”.

Megan MacAulay (Evergreen Park) received the NB Provincial Commemorations Award for her project “The Ganong Family”

A, Jane Martin ( Riverview East) received the NB Museum Award of Merit for her project “Miramichi Fire of 1825”

Sarah MacAulay (Evergreen Park) received the Council of NB Archives Award for her project “Le Pont de la Confédération”.

Jake Purdy and Elliot Hicks (Dorchester Consolidated) received the NB Sport Legacy Award for their project on “Lacrosse”.

Sally Kim (Riverview East) received the NB Labour History Award for her project “Ganong”.

Lexa Kwan (Evergreen Park) was awarded the Canada's History medal for her project “Les événéments et les personnes qui ont mené a la création du drapeau Canadien”.

Liam Haynes (Evergreen Park) received the NB Military History Award for his project “Speech About the Battle of Vimy Ridge”.

Three Royal Canadian Legion Military History Medals were awarded to Natalie Thompson, Caylin Carson and Haley Batson from Port Elgin Regional for their project “The War of 1812”.

The Albert County Museum prizes were awarded to Molly Dixon (Port Elgin Regional) for project “Vimy Ridge”and to Landon Stevens, Ben Bouchard, Ryan Milburn and Alexander MacFarlane (Caledonia Regional) for “Sugar Woods” project.

Prizes from Resurgo, Moncton were awarded to Jonathan Field (Riverview East) for project “Covered Bridges of NB”

Special prizes from Fort Beausejour-Fort Cumberland were awarded to Joris Jakob and Aiden Sweeney (Port Elgin) for their project “Acadian Farming”.

Honorable mention prizes were awarded to Robbie Harker and Hunter Pepper (Port Elgin) for project “The Confederation Bridge”; to Breeze Tingley and Hailey Tingley (Caledonia Regional) for project “Gray's Island” and to Olivia NcGrath (Caledonia Regional) for project “Multiculturalism”.

Submitted by Dawne McLean, ASD-E RHF Coordinator

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A Great Piece by CTV News on our Vimy Ridge Cannon!

In case you missed the news last night, CTV News did a great piece on the large K14 Cannon which was captured at Vimy Ridge. The cannon has sat in the square in Hopewell Cape since March 4, 1920! Here is the VIdeo link http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1073720

The large 10.5 Cm K14 German Cannon was captured at Vimy Ridge, April 9, 1917, and was won by the Citizens of Albert County during the Victory Loans Campaign of 1919 for raising the greatest percentage of monies over their set goal. They raised $347,600.00 tripling their goal of $110,000.00. Pretty impressive for a county of only 8700 people!

Now that's a story worth saving!

The Victory Cannon Campaign is raising funds to restore the two captured World War One cannons situated in the square in Hopewell Cape. These cannons were captured by Canadians during the Great War, and were awarded to the people of Albert County. You can donate online to the Victory Cannon Campaign here, and best of all you'll be sent a tax receipt!  Click Here to Donate!

If you missed the Antiques Roadshow you missed quite the show!

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On Sunday we held our annual Antiques Roadshow fundraiser, with a number of very unusual items appearing this year. The highlight was definitely this Canadian made Epergne dating from the 1930's. When the couple first brought the Epergne to the front table, everyone was in awe from it's beauty, and when they said it was Sterling Silver we were even more impressed. (Sterling silver means that it is at least 92.5% pure silver). One of the first things an appraiser has to do when appraising something is to check the details out carefully, and when the appraisers inspected the Epergne they found that it was not Sterling Silver but EPNS (Electroplated Nickle Silver), which means it's silver plated. What does this mean value wise? The appraiser's said that if it was sterling it's value would have been around $12500.00 but since it wasn't it was probably worth $1500-2500.00. Still quite an impressive amount for a server. 

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Mystery item - Approximately 1" (2.5cm) high. The top screws off with a tube going down the centre of the item. The top of the item has a hole which allowed something to come out of the container. 

Some other items of note were a ship's lantern, some early tin toys, jewellery,  paintings, a wonderful brass microscope, a boxing trophy and WW2 medals, dishes and cups, and this mystery item, which we couldn't identify. If you have any ideas please post them here. 

Special thanks to our appraisers: Mike and Belinda Roth of 1st Choice Antiques from Moncton, and Stuart Liptay of Liptay Auctions. 

A great piece by CTV Atlantic on the Cape Enrage Figurine presentation last night!

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In case you missed the amazing presentation by Dr. David Black of UNB last night on the Cape Enrage Figurine you can still see the piece Cami Kepke of CTV Atlantic did on the piece. Just follow this link. 

http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=949023&binId=1.1145463&playlistPageNum=1

Exciting News Just In! Dr. Black is Bringing the Cape Enrage Figurine Saturday!

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We have just confirmed that Dr. David Black will be bringing the Cape Enrage Figurine to the presentation on Saturday, September 10 at 7:30 pm at the Albert County Museum. This is a must see presentation on an amazing artefact found here in Albert County in 1998.

The Cape Enrage Figurine, is a small image of a stylized human-like head carved into a piece of mammal bone. What was it used for? Who made it? When was it made? Why was it made? How was it made? So many questions are going to be answered your head will spin with excitement. 

 Come join us on Saturday, September 10 at 7:30 PM and discover what we have learned about it, and speculate about its provenance, history and cultural affiliation, all presented by retired UNB Professor Dr. David Black. 

If you have never heard of this amazing artefact then come and find out what makes it so special!

Entrance by free will donation. 

The Cape Enrage Figurine - An Enigmatic Object - A SPECIAL PRESENTATION - Saturday, September 10 @ 7:30PM

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In 1998, an unusual archaeological artifact was found at Cape Enrage, in Albert County, N.B.. This artifact, the Cape Enrage Figurine, is a small image of a stylized human-like head carved into a piece of mammal bone. 

 Come join us on Saturday, September 10 at 7:30 PM and discover what we have learned about it, and speculate about its provenance, history and cultural affiliation. With special presentation by retired UNB Professor Dr. David Black. 

If you have never heard of this amazing artefact then come and find out what makes it so special!

Entrance by free will donation. 

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Museum Celebrates 40th Annual Quilt Show and Sale - July 12- 16 9:30am-5:30pm

With the summer weather finally here, cozying up in a quilt may be the last thing on your mind, but quilts are a hot commodity at the Albert County Museum right now as one of its major fundraisers gets underway.

 The 40th annual quilt show and sale is taking place this week, beginning on July 12 and lasting until July 16 at the Hopewell Cape Community Hall at the Albert County Museum, 3940 Route 114, Hopewell Cape, NB.

 To celebrate the 40th anniversary the museum will feature a special interactive exhibit called “Stitches Through Time” where visitors will be able to try their hand at quilting.  The week will be interspersed with demonstrations as well as full workshops on Friday.

A hand quilting workshop will be offered from 10am to noon and a rug hooking workshop offered from 1pm to 3 pm.  Pre-registration for the workshops is required.  Call the museum at 734-2003 for details.

 “The quilt show is the single biggest fundraiser for us,” said museum curator Donald Alward. “We greatly appreciate the support from those who attend this event, as well as the time put in by our wonderful volunteers to organize and keep this show running.”

This year there are more than 100 unique quilts for sale by a number of local quilters. In addition to the quilts, there are quilt tops, youth, crib & lap quilts, afghans and other sewn articles available.

The show will also once again include a raffle for one of the quilts. Tickets can be purchased throughout the summer and the quilt, which features the design ‘Road to Abbey’s House’, can be shipped anywhere in North America.

Admission to the quilt show is just three dollars per person and includes access to the “Stitches Through Time” exhibit.  The Quilt Show & Sale is open each day during the museum’s regular hours, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Museum to Celebrate 75th Anniversary of Viscount Bennett's Elevation at 6th Annual RB Bennett Day - July 2

 The RB Bennett Commemorative Centre at the Albert County Museum is hosting the 6th annual RB Bennett Day on Saturday, July 2 in celebration of the only Canadian Prime Minister from New Brunswick. Located in Hopewell Cape at 3940 Route 114, just before the famous Hopewell Rocks, activities begin in the morning with the weekly Farmers and Crafters Market and continues with activities planned throughout the day. With the feature presentation at 2pm by noted historian and current Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, Dr. Christopher McCreery.

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75 years ago on July 23, 1941, Richard Bedford Bennett, Canada's 11th Prime Minister was elevated into the British House of Lords as the 1st Viscount Bennett, of Mickleham, in the County of Surrey and of Calgary and Hopewell, in the Dominion of Canada. In honour of this momentous occasion, Dr. Christopher McCreery, editor of the recently published book “The Authentic Voice of Canada: R.B. Bennett in the House of Lords.” will speak on Bennett.

The Centre will also offer a presentation on Bennett's rise to the peerage, with notable artefacts on hand from Bennett himself, including his gifts to the Garter King at Arms, Sir Gerald W. Wollaston K.C.B., K.C.V.O. a large impressive silver salver and sterling cigarette case. In addition to these the museum will bring to life the elevation ceremony, through a visual media presentation.

Directly following the activities, the annual birthday cake will be served celebrating RB Bennett's 146th Birthday (July 3, 1870).

The Farmer's Market & Breakfast is from 9am-1pm. Family oriented games and activities will be hosted the whole day (9:30am to 4pm). The main presentations will begin at 2pm followed by cake and homemade ice-cream.

The museum will offer free admission during the day to see all the displays and interactive exhibits.

AC Museum to Commemorate New Brunswick Battalions of the Great War - June 11

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On June 11, 2016, everyone is invited to visit between 10:00am and 4:00pm to share memories and memorabilia from the First World War relating to New Brunswick’s significant contribution. A number of other Museums will be on hand for the day with items from their collections for a great show and tell experience. Besides the Albert County Museum, Resurgo Place (Moncton Museum), Musee Acadien and the New Brunswick Military History Museum will all bring items to help share New Brunswick's stories and answer questions.

The event is not just limited to collections housed in museums either. The public is also invited to bring items and memorabilia from their private collections to show publicly for the day. If you wish to bring along some items, please contact the Albert County Museum in advance at 734-2003 to reserve your space.

The Museum will offer admission with a free-will donation towards the Museum’s Victory Cannon Campaign for the restoration of the two First World War Trophy Cannons that sit prominently next to the highway in front of the museum buildings.

If you're wondering if your items are from New Brunswick, here is a list of all the NB raised Battalions and Batteries: 

12th BATTALION C.E.F. (Canadian Expeditionary Force), 8th BATTERY C.F.A. (Canadian Field Artillery), 1st BRIGHTON FIELD. COMPANY CANADIAN ENGINEERS, 26th N. B. BATTALION ("FIGHTING 26th"), 55th N.B. and P.E.I. BATTALION, 2nd DIVISIONAL AMMUNITION COLUMN, R.C.A.S. CORPS, 23rd BATTERY C.F.A., 24th BATTERY C.F.A., 28th BATTERY C.F.A., 64th N.B. and N.S. BATTALION, 104th N.B. BATTALION, 115th N.B. BATTALION, 132nd BATTALION, 140th BATTALION, 145th BATTALION, 165th FRENCH ACADIAN BATTALION, 236th MacLEAN HIGHLANDERS, 58th BATTERY C.F.A., 65th BATTERY C.F.A., 89th BATTERY C.F.A., 4th SIEGE BATTERY CANADIAN ARTILLERY, 6th SIEGE BATTERY CANADIAN ARTILLERY, No. 16 CANADIAN FIELD AMBULANCE, 257 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION BATTALION, and other various drafts of infantry and engineers.

Emeline Steven's 1882 Diary Exploration - The First Opening Windows to Our Past a Resounding Success!

Last night we explored the 1882-1885 Diary of Emeline Stevens (b.Jan 9, 1861, d.April 5, 1935) who grew up in Memel, Albert County, New Brunswick. It was an amazing look at the life of a young lady in rural Albert County in the 1880's. From her longest trip away from home (60km) to her yearly trips to the dentist, it was a fascinating journey into her life. 

In September 1882 she noted seeing the Great September Comet of 1882, an event which no one in the crowd had heard of. A quick trip to the internet informed us of the magnitude of this comet. It was so bright you could see it in the daytime. You can see an actual photo of it to the right. 

Her diary also noted 2 important events in Albert County History, the launching of two of Gaius S. Turner's ships, the 1883 launch of the Vandalia (1432 net tonnage) it sunk in 1901, and the 1884 launch of the Constance (1591 net tonnage) it sunk in 1903. The ship launches were huge public events in the county, which people travelling from miles around to see it. She noted that she was 15 minutes late to see the launch of the Vandalia, but still had a good time. 

Throughout the diary she listed the books she read, and how she spent her days, from spinning, to sewing, quilting and making socks and mittens to sell. It was an amazing walk through time and her life. 

We're really excited about our next scheduled Diary Discovery, Thursday, June 30 @ 7:30 pm Stay tuned to find out whose diary we will be exploring then!