Maine Acadians

Northern Maine is home to descendants of French settlers known as Acadians. Their history in North America stretches back 400 years. Today, their traditions are celebrated through historical societies and cultural events all along the St. John River.

French navigators began to explore the coast of Maine and eastern Canada in the sixteenth century. The first permanent settlement in this region was established on St. Croix Island, in the historic homeland of the Wabanaki people, in 1604. Nearly half of the colonists died during their first North American winter. The following spring, the survivors moved across the Bay of Fundy to what is today Nova Scotia.

Conflict in both Europe and North America delayed large-scale settlement. The ancestors of present-day Acadians began arriving from the 1630s onward. The French colony of Acadia eventually encompassed present‑day Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and the easternmost area of Maine.

A unique culture

Across Acadia, settlers developed a unique culture grounded in agriculture in reclaimed salt marshes, fishing, trade with neighboring colonies, and close ties with the Mi’kmaq. After Britain’s conquest of mainland Acadia in 1710, Acadians sought to remain neutral in wars between European colonial powers.

The region’s culture survived and the Acadian population reached approximately 14,000 in the 1750s. At that time, having rejected their claims of neutrality, British colonial officials began the wholesale expulsion of Acadians. Their deportation is known as le Grand Dérangement (the Great Upheaval). Families were separated and the deportees were sent to the British colonies, England, and France. At the end of the Seven Years’ War, dispersed Acadians sought to rebuild their communities in Louisiana, Quebec, Nova Scotia and many other locations.

The Acadians who found a new home in New Brunswick faced the encroachment and rival land claims of Loyalists in the 1780s. They appealed to colonial leaders and obtained land grants along the Upper St. John River, where their descendants still live today. In the nineteenth century, they were joined by French Canadians from the parishes east of Quebec City. The two groups gradually mingled and intermarried.

 

Acadian families gathered for the landing reenactment in St. David, Maine, 1995.

Paula Lerner Photographs, 1995, MCC-00151, Acadian Archives/Archives acadiennes, University of Maine at Fort Kent.

Preserving identity

The sense of “Acadianness” has persisted despite many challenges. In the early years of the Madawaska settlement, colonists endured scarcity and famine. British and American claims to the region led to a standoff known as the Aroostook War in the 1830s. Later, the State of Maine sought to Americanize the population. For fifty years (1919-1969), education in any language but English was banned in public schools.

A cultural revival swept through the region from the 1960s to the 1990s. Bilingual education programs were implemented. Residents established a historic village, organized an annual festival, and made efforts to safeguard their ancestral culture and language. Today, the Maine Acadian Heritage Council continues to support the work of local organizations that celebrate Acadian culture all year long.

Information about Maine Acadian culture can be found at https://www.maineacadian.org/.