Wed. Oct. 2 Pubnico and Acadian Culture

At 7:15 this morning, the fog dominated the weather but by 8:30 the sun was shining and the sky was blue...a beautiful day and unseasonably warm. After a delicious hot breakfast served by Sue in the dining room and, after an interesting chat with her Northern Irish husband Mike, we drove back to Mel's to start our only full day in Pubnico. We languished in the sun on his deck while Mel took lobster meat he'd just cooked over to Aggie's who was making fish chowder for our lunch. 

When Mel returned, he said mass for us in his living room (he even had hosts) in English and French. Quite an experience! And then we drove to Eglise Saint Pierre to see the French church....there's an English speaking Catholic Church on the other side of town. Our next drive was to the Point where we viewed the 17 wind turbines next to the bay. We returned to Mel's to meet Aggie and Guy for a lunch of delicious fish stew and homemade (by Mel) bread. Very interesting couple; Guy is a retired fisherman in his 80s and Aggie is his wife and mother of their 6 children, 2 of whom we met last night. Lots of talk of fish, techniques and the life of a fisherman and his family. 

Back in the car, we visited a small, local ship yard and viewed a large lobster boat being built for a local. At the Acadian Village we saw a replica of an 18th century town and learned more about the Acadian Expulsion and the eventual return of the Acadians to Nova Scotia via Europe. At the local Acadian museum we had a tour of an Acadian home with artifacts of Acadian life and learned even more about the culture. 

Pubnico today is a small community of about 450 families, all of whom are related or at least have known each other for generations. Life here today is quiet and simple; the men fish, the women work in service related jobs, the children, for the most part, attend the French speaking school and everyone is bilingual. 

After a short hour respite (prone on our beds!), we all left the B&B for The Old Argyler overlooking the Bay. We watched the sunset on the porch while waiting for a table and now we've done both sunrise and sunset on this trip. For the most part we each had a fish entree....all of the restaurants in this area pride themselves on their fresh fish. Mel regaled us with stories of his school life at Assumption prep in Worcester, later as a young priest in the Archdiocese and also his year spent studying in France.  After a great dinner, we drove back to Yesteryears where we bid "Adieu et merci" to Mel. Tomorrow we head up the Atlantic coast to see some lighthouses.