Beaubassin, Fort Lawrence, Nova Scotia

Beaubassin was an Acadian village formed in the 1670s at Sikniktuk, a Mi’kmaw region at the junction of multiple overland and portage routes. The Mi’kmaw and Acadians co-existed here for almost a century. Strategically located, Chignecto Isthmus was a pivotal place in the North American geopolitical struggle between empires. With the eruption of a long-simmering border dispute between the British and the French, in 1750, the village was burned and its inhabitants dispersed. Today, the site’s archaeological features, deposits, and artifacts attest to the Acadian, Mi’kmaw, and British presence at the site and speak to the destruction of the village, a prelude to the final clash of the British and French empires in Acadia.

The isthmus connecting what is now New Brunswick and Nova Scotia has a human history stretching back millennia. Sikniktuk (or Chignecto) is located in Siknikt, one of the seven districts of Mi’kma’ki which extend over all the present-day Maritime Provinces and into Gaspé in Quebec. A Mi’kmaw community was already on the isthmus when Acadians came in the 1670s to trade and farm. In time, a prosperous Acadian village called Beaubassin arose, with a mission to the Mi’kmaw and a Catholic Church. Beaubassin was at the heart of a vast travel and trade network that encompassed Île-Royale (now Cape Breton Island), Canada, Nova Scotia, and New England. From Beaubassin, Acadians traded European goods with the Mi’kmaw, shipped livestock and grain to Boston and Louisbourg, and received goods from throughout the Atlantic world.

Control of the Beaubassin region was coveted by both the French and the British. In 1696 and 1704, New England forces attacked the village. The 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, whereby France ceded control of Acadia to the British, was not recognized by First Nations and left boundaries unclear. As such, the isthmus became a disputed borderland. In 1749, the French tried to assert control of the territory north of the Missaguash River. In response, in 1750, the British sent a force of 400 troops to Chignecto, to claim the south side of the river. However, as they arrived, they found that the French and Mi’kmaw had set Beaubassin on fire, destroying the village. The village’s inhabitants fled into areas of French ascendancy. This clash at Beaubassin marked the beginning of more than a decade of upheaval and violence in the region, a period which resulted in the deportation of the Acadians.

Today, archaeology at the former village of Beaubassin can help reveal the history of the Acadians, Mi’kmaw, and British people at this site. Parks Canada undertook its first archaeological research here in the 1960s; and further research in 2004 recovered over 450 artifacts, some of which were burned, speaking to the dramatic history of this site. Public archaeological digs also took place at the site from 2007-2011 where over 10,000 artifacts were uncovered by volunteers and specialists. This includes artifacts recovered by Nadon in 1968 but not the LaVoie artifacts from 1986 (in NB provincial collection). The Nova Scotia Museum also houses another 11,000 artifacts from the 1990 provincial salvage of the Fort Lawrence site.