Landscape of Grand-Pré
UNESCO World Heritage Site / Grand Pré National Historic Site (Parks Canada) · Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia
The Landscape of Grand-Pre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (listed 2012) in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, near Wolfville. It protects a farming landscape that Acadian settlers made from the Minas Basin tidal marsh from the 1680s onward, building earth dykes and wooden sluices called aboiteaux to keep out the sea and turn salt marsh into rich farmland. Grand-Pre National Historic Site, run by Parks Canada, sits inside it, with a memorial church, gardens, a Deportation Cross and a bronze Evangeline statue (Evangeline is a Longfellow poem of 1847). The site also remembers the Expulsion of the Acadians in 1755, when thousands were forced from their homes. It suits history-minded visitors and Acadian families, and it is quiet and open rather than dramatic. Allow one to two hours. The grounds are seasonal and staffed programming varies, so confirm dates before you drive. The site is small, and the moving part is the history, not the scenery, so read the signs and take your time.
2205 Grand-Pré Road, Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia, B4P 2R6, Canada
The national historic site is seasonal, with the visitor centre, exhibits and staffed programs usually running from late spring to autumn. The grounds may be open for walking outside that period, but buildings, washrooms and interpreters are not. Exact dates and daily hours change by year, so confirm with Parks Canada before you plan around a visit. Mid-summer days commonly run longer than shoulder-season days. The wider World Heritage landscape of dykes and farmland is ordinary working countryside and can be driven past at any time, but there is no staffed interpretation there. Check for any special Acadian events, commemorations and winter closures.
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