A Remarkable Thing...

We went to Jamestown, Virginia a couple of years ago and now see another piece of the story at Port-Royal at the mouth of the Annapolis River, Nova Scotia. This was the first real experiment in living in the northern New World, led by Champlain who invented The Order of Good Cheer to ward off serious cabin fever. Port Royal (French 1605) and Jamestown (English 1607) were “it and dit” for timing and not too far apart as the crow flies or warships sail. It was a volatile era of territorial expansion and the two forts were front and centre. Port Royal lost the skirmish and was destroyed in 1613.  An interesting side-bar is that the reconstruction of Port-Royal, from a set of original plans, was energized by a woman from Massachusetts. Construction of this first-ever replica built on the first-ever National Historic was from 1939-1941, ironic timing considering world affairs in those years.

window at Port-Royal

the main entrance or Port-Royal

This Parks Canada interpreter/guide was excellent and later we realized we were seeing his face every where in the marketing materials for the area. At the Tidal Bore Power plant, we were told he is one of a set of identical twins, Alan and Wayne, who both work for Parks Canada. No wonder we saw him everywhere!

Try to keep up here...

The French moved the burned-out Port-Royal settlers 10 kilometers up the river and the now town of Port Royal survived until turned over to the English in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. The English renamed the town Annapolis Royal after Queen Anne and it was the original capital city of Nova Scotia, replaced by Halifax in 1749. Fort Anne was built by the Scots in 1629 to protect Annapolis Royal. 

Fort Anne

Finally, the point of the story: the Fort Anne Tapestry. How does every Canadian not know about this remarkable piece of work? Begun in 1985 as a way to commemorate the centennial of Parks Canada, the project got underway in 1988 and was unveiled in 1998. There are four panels, each 4.5 feet wide and 8 feet high for a total of 8x18, and each representing a century of local history. Hundreds of people worked on it, including Queen Elizabeth. The detail is astonishing, including a Mi’kmaq shield made from birch bark and adorned with porcupine quill, a tiny “pearl” necklace, lace, and innumerable types of stitches.

The room is long and narrow so you can’t get a decent photo of the entire piece and my phone camera didn’t do justice to the vibrant colours but I hope you’ll get the gist. And if you get a chance to see it, do; it was a highlight of this trip.