August 15, 2018 Acadian Village, PART 2, Caraquet, New Brunswick

The Acadian Village was so big, I had to divide our tour into two blog entries.  This second part is on the left-hand side of the map.  It's the early 20th century, with "modern" living.  I was fascinated with the machinery that they were still using, including the grist mill and the saw mill.  Watched both mills in action, and I must say, those old ways were pretty clever at getting things done by water power and diesel power.   Such a wonderful place!

Enlarge this photo for details.

Covered bridge.

Entrance to grist mill.

The sluice to the grist mill after he opened it.
Interesting - everything was run by a water-driven turbine underneath;
more modern than the old water wheel mills. 

One small part of the workings of the grist mill.
Wish I could post the video.

Sawmill on the front end, looking from the rear. 

Sawmill on the front end.

Logs turned into squares and then into planks.

The filling station.  Complete with old cars.
Bubba was in heaven.....

The Chateau Albert hotel;
it has real customers who stay here.

Hotel bar.

Barber shop in the hotel.

Modern fancy stove in one of the 20th century homes.
Lots of nickel on that baby!

Upstairs bedroom. 

Cooperage.  They still make barrels the old way.

The tin smith.  Still making all kinds of things being used in the Acadian Village. 

Cobbler shop.  Still making the shoes worn by the Acadian "characters".

If you got tired, this nice bus would give you a ride.
Pretty different from the horse-drawn wagon on the "old" side of the park.

Animals everywhere.

Big ol' fat bunny snoozing.

We were one of the last folks out of there.....

The statue in front of the visitor center.

August 15, 2018 Acadian Village, PART 1, Caraquet, New Brunswick

Sometimes we accidentally stumble across things and find ourselves in the middle of great stuff....

Today is Acadian Day here in New Brunswick (and all over the Canadian Maritimes).  Big-big day, with parades and parties and everything, the culmination of two weeks of celebrating the Acadian culture.  Did we know this?  Why, no.  But this is the day we have decided to visit the historic Acadian Village.  We showed up just before lunch only to discover that it's going to be packed with people (Acadian Day, dontcha know!) and closing early at 3 p.m. (Acadian Day!!!).  And that it's a huge place - see the map below.  Undaunted, we tackled it all anyway.  

This village is completely authentic, right down to the people wearing the clothes and doing everything the old way, growing food and raising animals and farming.  The "characters" in costume went about their daily business in spite of all us gawkers.  Since it was lunchtime, we saw them cooking and eating and - well, you get the idea.  All the buildings are originals and were moved here from other places.

We took a zillion pictures and it was hard to cull out just a few......

In french it mentions the Fete on 15 August...

This map shows the extent of this place; enlarge the picture to get an idea of what we saw.  Kindly note, Duane and Michelle Doucet, the 1860  "Doucet" farm on the map on the lower right.

Gobblers.

Big old fat cochon. (pig)

Buuuuuck buck buck....

Bovines and ovines.  Moos and baas. 

Dude!  Mr. Goat!

Every single farm had a wonderful garden to provide food. 

Root cellar.

Inside each home was a character who explained things -
all in french so we don't have a clue what was being said....

Serving up lunch to her man. 

Family sitting down to lunch.  Beef stew.

If you got tired of walking this nice man would let you ride.

The smithy.

Printing company.

Old-time printing press.  One sheet at a time.....

Racks for drying fish;  fishing was a big part of their lives here.

Oven for baking.  They'd just pulled out a batch of bread.

In addition to the gardens, there were lots of fruit trees.

DOUCET home, 1860.

DOUCET home, 1860.
Do you see Bubba?

DOUCET home, 1860.

All the kids in period costume, they were so dang cute! 

This was at the tavern.  These two gents were playing lively tunes and drawing a crowd.
Wish I could post the video.  Now and then the older man would get up and dance.
Found myself doing a little two-stepping.