For those who later came back to the Maritimes, they could not re-establish themselves on their former lands. As early as the mid-1760’s, the government had already redistributed all the fertile Acadian land of Grand-Pré and the Annapolis Valley to protestant colonists from New England known as the Planters.1 The Acadians had to establish

themselves on less fertile land and had to adapt to fishing instead of farming.

“In the space of a decade, the most prosperous region of Nova Scotia had been emptied of its population and refilled with another population.”

Today one can find a large forged iron cross that marks the location where the Acadians at Grand-Pré were boarded on the ships and taken on the Minas Basin. At the National Historic Site of Grand-Pré, a replica of the church St-Charles can also be found.