I received this wonderful and unexpected Maryland General Assembly citation when presenting the story of Acadian exiles in Maryland at the Nabb Research Center at the University of Maryland in Salisbury on the 19th of April, 2018. The "Acadians in Maryland" sign, installed in 2013 at the Manokin River Park in Princess Anne Maryland, is located in Somerset County, Maryland, which is Senator Jim Mathias' home district.  Thank you for recognizing the history of our people, Maryland!

​For details: http://www.salisbury.edu/news/article.html?id=7886

Acadians Were Here Maryland Historical Trust 2018 Excellence in Media and Publications Acceptance Speech delivered by Marie Rundquist mrundqui@shentel.net February 1, 2018 at the Maryland Senate Office Building in Annapolis, Maryland. Reference: http://acadianswerehere.org for Dr. R. Martin Guidry, Contributor and Historian, Greg Wood, Author, Contributor and Historian, Marie Rundquist, Author, Contributor and Website Developer

"The website, Acadians Were Here, which receives today the MHT award for Excellence in Media and Publications, delivers the lesser-known history of Acadians in Maryland to new audiences: tourists and tour guides, researchers, historical societies and organizations, journalists, documentary producers, family genealogists, and regular people interested in traveling to the places where over 900 Acadians were exiled after being forcibly removed from their lands in Nova Scotia in November of 1755. They travel by bus, by car, by bicycle and on foot to visit the areas around the Chesapeake Bay where Acadian families lived – and they connect to the Acadians Were Here website from the US and Canada to plan their trips. 

Thank you, Maryland Historical Trust for this excellent recognition of the Acadians Were Here organization and thanks to all whose support and endorsement we are so grateful to have received, and thanks to our guests today, Lynn Wood, Sean Carney, and my husband Edward Nowicki for their support. We honor Nell Ziehl and the Maryland Historical Trust Program staff for elevating the vital role of Acadians In Maryland’s history to the mainstream, and through this MHT award, recognizing our project, and that Acadians Were Here."
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About the Maryland Historical Trust 2018 Awards: https://mht.maryland.gov/awards_2018.shtml
Press Release: ​2018-0201-press-release-2018-md-preservation-awards.pdf
Slideshow: mht.maryland.gov/awardsphotos2018.shtml

For information about the sash worn by site developer and contributor, Marie Rundquist,  pictured here (https://acadianswerehere.org/about-the-authors.html) on the Acadians Were Here website, please visit the following website: ​http://acadiens-metis-souriquois.ca/index.html where you will find the history and culture of an acadien-metis people discussed at length.

Greg Wood, Marty Guidry and Marie Rundquist were the keynote speakers and presenters during the historical journey of the Acadian experience in Maryland that took place between the morning of Wednesday, September 13th through the afternoon of Friday September 15th. The tour group, comprised of Acadian descendants from Canada, largely Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Quebec, visited Acadian diaspora sites in Baltimore, the White Marsh Ruins, Snow Hill, Furnacetown, Princess Anne, Oxford and Annapolis during the carefully planned three-day sojourn into some of Maryland's most historic locations. We are Acadians in Maryland! 

"Ave Maris Stella," the National Anthem of the Acadian people, is sung in front of the "Acadians in Maryland" sign at the Manokin River Park in Princess Anne, Maryland to honor Acadian ancestors who lived in the area after being deported there, by the British, in November of 1755.

Marie Rundquist, author, holds the Acadian flag while standing in front of the "Acadians in Maryland" sign in Princess Anne, Maryland.  Marie is the descendant of Acadians Genevieve Hebert and Michel David dit St. Michel who were deported from Grand-Pré to Maryland in 1755. Genevieve Hebert was the great granddaughter of Anne Marie (?), an Amerindian woman (said to be Mi'kmaq or possibly Métis) out of Port Royal, Nova Scotia who married two French settlers in Acadia, first, the unknown Pinet, and then second, Rene Rimbault, in the mid-17th century.

​For more information about the history of Acadian exiles in Maryland, visit http://acadianswerehere.org.  For information about the tour group, and when the next tour will be scheduled, visit Les Voyages DiasporAcadie ! and email diasporacadie@gmail.com