7/14/11 -Tidal Power Plant

Annapolis Royal is home to the only tidal power plant in North America...since the Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world, Annapolis is an ideal location. The building houses a power generator that is driven by the ocean tides. Due to the extremely high tides in the Bay of Fundy (39 - 52 feet), the Power company has built on a causeway that has a lake on one side and the bay on the other. As the tides rise, the water flows into the lake and is then held in the lake. When the tides go out, water from the lake is released back into the bay through the turbines so that they are able to generate power for about 6-8 hours. Then the process starts all over again. We took a tour of this facility.

Coming back down hill from the graveyard....glad we did this. There was a lot of history of the area explained.

Guide explaining art work on graves, style and dates.

There were about 50 people that went on this tour.....there was a RV caraven in our campground and some of them went on this tour.

While we were waiting for it to get dark enough for the cemetery tour....Pat walked around the grounds of Fort Anne and got this sunset picture.

Cemetery Tour

Well this is one thing we haven't done before! Their ad said, if you are ready for a unique experience and want to learn about "images of the past etched in stone," don't miss the Candlelight Tour of Garrison Graveyard....the oldest English graveyard in Canada. The tour guide was really good and very entertaining as well....he explained the meaning of the gravestone art very well. He is Acadian and has lived here all his life. He was very interested in carrying on the historical aspects of this area and how much the community has gotten behind the restoration of so many of the historical buildings here.

We saw some really pretty sunsets from the campground...looking over the mountains to the west.

If you wanted a Buoy....here was the place....just put your $5.00 in the slot and take what you wanted I guess....there was no one at all around this area on the dock.

After leaving downtown Annapolis Royal, we took Canada's Oldest Settlement Road toward Port-Royal and then took a dirt road five miles over the North Mountains to the Bay of Fundy and to the Delaps Cove area. The tide was out and you can see how low the boats are in the dock area. The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world. The rocky beach area was covered with birds....all feasting on what they could find after the tide went out.

Annapolis Royal

As one of the oldest European settlements in Canada, Annapolis Royal is also the country's largest National Historic District....with over 135 registered heritage properties....pretty good for also being the smallest incorporated town in Nova Scotia. We walked through the downtown area...there were lots of quaint little shops.

7/13/11 - Annapolis Royal - 42 miles

After getting set in the campground we headed off to downtown Annapolis Royal. Karen wasn't feeling good so just Pat and I went. We didn't tour Fort Anne's....just walked the grounds. Fort Anne is Canada's oldest National Historic Site. It was a beautiful setting....but didn't look very protected for a Fort.

Yogi Bear's Jellystone

This was the park we ended up staying in tonight....definitely geared to kids. The check-in staff were all really young girls....not sure they weren't still in high school. They were extremely friendly but didn't have a clue about where to park large motor homes. We did get in two spots at the very back that we selected. We were the only motorhomes in this park....all the others were 5th wheels, trailers, pop-up trailers and lots of tents and kids. Wish we had the grandkids with us here....they would have had a ball with all the stuff to do.

The grounds here were beautiful. When we were done here we grabbed a bit to eat in the mortorhomes and were on our way. Jay & Millie we were thinking of you while we toured this beautiful area.

Evaqngeline

Inspired by the story of the Deportation at Grand-Pre, in 1847, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published the poem Evangeline. The success of the poem helped create Grand-Pre National Historic Site. In 1920, the Dominion Atlantic Railway erected the statue of Evangeline. I don't know why we missed getting a good picture of the statute....but we did. In one of the earlier church pictures you can see where it's location is.

The Deportation

On July 28, 1755, the Governor in Council of Nova Scotia issued the order to deport the Acadian population. On September 5, the Acadians in Grand-Pre were informed that everything, except their personal belongings, was forfeited to the British Crown and that they would be deported. More than 6,000 Acadians were deported from Nova Scotia. We watched a really well done movie giving the history of the Acadians and then their deportation....it is really sad what humans do to each other. Some were deported to the east coast and since Louisanna was under French rule some of them thought they might be safe there.....thus we have the Cajuns today. Inside the church their were displays and painted pictures portraying the Deportation.

Memorial Church & Museum

It was beautiful looking toward the church.