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

The following slide shows, videos and shares offer a personal insight into the events and meetings that took place throughout all the days of celebration and learning that comprised the Grand-Pré 2017 Celebration of Peace and Reconciliation:

During this first-ever, four-day reunion of the Acadian and Mi'kmaq people, held at the Grand-Pré World UNESCO site in Nova Scotia, festival participants had an opportunity to take part in an historic renewal of friendship, exchanging of gifts, song, dance, and culture among Mi'kmaq and Acadian peoples, and the acknowledgement of a 400 year-old shared history, tradition and legacy in Nova Scotia.

The historical timeline of Nova Scotia, and specifically, "Acadia," reflects two cataclysms: first, the coming together of two distinct peoples from two separate continents, Europe and North America, that occurred in the early 1600s, when Europeans (largely from France) first settled lands held by the Mi'kmaq and intermarriage took place, and second, the involuntary  expulsion of the Acadian peoples out of Nova Scotia in 1755 who then carried Native and European blood lines borne of these first historic unions to their new homes and settlements. Now, in 2017, we may add to this same timeline a third milestone: the Celebration of Peace and Reconciliation that took place at Grand Pré.

The traditional story of “Early America” unfolds as Europeans arrive by ship at Plymouth Rock and Jamestown at the start of the seventeenth century.  The story continues, in countless textbooks, with the emergence of the thirteen English colonies followed by the American Revolution, and draws to a close as Lewis and Clark set off to explore lands west of the Mississippi in 1804.

The more recent, “American Story” is one of “Coming to America,” with crossings – of borders and oceans, and the first Federal Immigration Inspection Station: Ellis Island.

Patricia Sánchez Rau's American story departs wildly from traditional themes, for her family did not come to the United States as immigrants through Ellis Island or anywhere along the east coast. By contrast, Patricia's ancestors came from Spain, Portugal, Greece, North Africa, and other parts of Europe to Mexico. In 1598, years before the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock, they were among the New World's first pioneers who assembled on the banks of the San Pedro River under the dogged leadership of don Juan de Oñate, to embark upon their epic journey to New Mexico.  Click to read more...