Explore the real-world places that appear in The Meeting Place by Janette Oke. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Fort Anne (Annapolis Royal), Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens, Port-Royal National Historic Site (Habitation), Grand-Pré, Horton Landing Deportation Cross and 5 more.
Upper St. George Street, Annapolis Royal — the English garrison seat
Fort Anne stands in for the English garrison world that shapes Catherine's life as she prepares to become a bride under British rule. The garrison's authority and the suspicion between English officials and their French neighbors form the political backdrop to her secret friendship with the Frenchwoman Louisa. As tension builds toward the crackdown, the fort is a reminder of the power that threatens both women's families.
A French fort was built on this site in the early 1600s, and the British captured Port-Royal in 1710 and renamed it Annapolis Royal. The fort served as the capital of British Nova Scotia until 1749. The surviving earthworks and buildings date largely from the British period.
Fort Anne National Historic Site is a Parks Canada site with earthwork bastions, a powder magazine, and a museum in the officers' quarters. Visitors can walk the grounds and see exhibits on Acadian, Mi'kmaw, French, and British history.
Visit: Fort Anne National Historic Site (historic site)
Upper St. George Street — a stand-in for the wildflower meadow
The novel's emotional heart is a lush field of wildflowers where Louisa, the Frenchwoman, and Catherine, the Englishwoman, first meet while both are about to become brides. They keep returning in secret through the seasons, sharing friendship and growing faith. This spot is the nearest real-world equivalent to that meadow and to the quiet peace the women seek.
The gardens occupy land reclaimed from the Annapolis River tidal flats that Acadian settlers diked and farmed in the 1600s and 1700s. The Acadians' dike-building (aboiteaux) turned salt marsh into fertile farmland. The present gardens were developed in the 1980s.
The Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens is a 17-acre public garden with themed displays, including a recreated Acadian house and a rose collection. It is open seasonally and overlooks the tidal marshes.
Visit: Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens (park)
Port Royal, across the Annapolis Basin — the original French settlement
The reconstructed French settlement evokes Louisa's world of Acadian farming families, Catholic faith, and attachment to the land. Her hopes for marriage, family, and home are rooted in this community. As English pressure grows, the Acadian way of life this place represents comes under threat.
Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Dugua de Mons founded the Habitation at Port-Royal in 1605, one of the earliest European settlements north of Florida. It was abandoned, attacked, and rebuilt several times. The reconstruction was built in 1939–41 from Champlain's plans.
Parks Canada operates the reconstructed Habitation with costumed interpreters and period furnished rooms. It is open seasonally and is a major heritage attraction in the Annapolis Valley.
Visit: Port-Royal National Historic Site (historic site)
Minas Basin — the heart of Acadian farmland
Grand-Pré represents the larger Acadian farming communities whose prosperity and neutrality are tested as English authority tightens. Louisa's people and others like them face the dilemma of oaths of loyalty and the dreaded crackdown. The place anchors the novel's looming threat to family and home.
Acadians settled Grand-Pré around 1680 and dyked hundreds of acres of tidal marsh. In 1755 the British deported the Acadian population of the area during the Great Upheaval. The site was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012.
Grand-Pré National Historic Site includes a memorial church, gardens, a statue of Evangeline, and interpretive exhibits on Acadian life and the deportation. It is open seasonally to visitors.
Visit: Grand-Pré National Historic Site (historic site)
Minas Basin shore near Grand-Pré — embarkation point of 1755
The crackdown that threatens Louisa and Catherine's friendship echoes the forced removal of Acadian families from their homes. The ordeal tests both women's faith and their dreams of family and home. This landing recalls the heartbreak of separation that hangs over the story.
In autumn 1755 Acadian men, women, and children were gathered and loaded onto ships at Horton Landing for deportation. Thousands were scattered across the British colonies and later elsewhere. A memorial cross marks the shoreline.
The Deportation Cross sits on the shore near Grand-Pré, with views over the Minas Basin and its extreme tides. It is a quiet memorial open to visitors.
Visit: Deportation Cross Memorial (monument)
Cape Breton Island — the great French stronghold
Louisbourg is the French military power that looms over the contest for Acadia, shaping English fears about French settlers' loyalties. That fear feeds the suspicion and harsh measures that eventually endanger families like Louisa's. The conflict between empires is the outside world that does not mirror the women's tranquil friendship.
France built Louisbourg beginning in 1713 as a fortified port and the capital of Île-Royale. British forces captured it in 1745 and again in 1758, after which it was demolished. Part of the town was reconstructed in the 20th century.
The Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site is a Parks Canada living-history attraction with costumed interpreters in reconstructed buildings. It is the largest reconstructed 18th-century French fortified town in North America.
Visit: Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site (historic site)
Isthmus of Chignecto, New Brunswick — French fort on the border
Fort Beauséjour embodies the dividing line between French and English claims in Acadia. The tension on this frontier fuels the crackdown that endangers Louisa and Catherine's world. It symbolizes how political conflict closes in on the private lives of ordinary families.
The French built Fort Beauséjour in 1751 to guard the Chignecto isthmus against the British at nearby Fort Lawrence. British and New England forces captured it in 1755, renaming it Fort Cumberland. That victory preceded the Acadian deportations.
Fort Beauséjour–Fort Cumberland National Historic Site preserves the star-shaped earthworks and has a museum and views over the Tantramar marshes. It is open to visitors.
Visit: Fort Beauséjour–Fort Cumberland National Historic Site (historic site)
Citadel Hill, Halifax — seat of British power after 1749
Halifax stands for the stiffening English hold on the colony and the growing push to impose British control over the French population. Decisions made by English authorities in such centers ripple down to families like Catherine's and Louisa's. The city represents the distant power behind the crackdown that threatens their bond.
Halifax was founded in 1749 as a British military and naval base to counter Louisbourg. Citadel Hill was fortified from the start, and the current star fort dates from the 1820s–1850s. It became the colonial capital.
Halifax Citadel National Historic Site features a restored star fort, a museum, and costumed interpreters of the 78th Highlanders. It overlooks the city and harbor.
Visit: Halifax Citadel National Historic Site (historic site)
Minas Basin coast — rugged shoreline of Acadia
The rugged coastline gives the novel its sense of place, a wild edge where native Mi'kmaq, French settlers, and English garrisons share the land without sharing peace. For Louisa and Catherine, the sea and cliffs frame seasons of change as their faith grows. The landscape is a counterpoint of beauty to the political turmoil.
Cape Blomidon is a red sandstone and basalt headland on the Minas Basin, known to the Mi'kmaq as the home of the figure Glooscap. Its tides are among the highest in the world. Acadian farms spread along the nearby lowlands.
Blomidon Provincial Park offers cliff-top trails, beaches, and views across the Minas Basin. It is open to the public in season.
Visit: Blomidon Provincial Park (park)
Inland Nova Scotia — Mi'kmaw homeland
The native Mi'kmaq are one of the three peoples sharing Acadia alongside the French and English, each isolated by political tension. The inland forests and lakes evoke their enduring presence beyond the settlements and garrisons. They remind readers that the land's earliest inhabitants also face disruption from imperial rivalry.
The Mi'kmaq have lived in this region for thousands of years, traveling the lake and river systems by canoe. The area holds petroglyphs carved over centuries depicting people, animals, and ships. Kejimkujik was designated a National Historic Site of Canada for its cultural landscape.
Kejimkujik National Park offers canoeing, hiking, and guided tours of Mi'kmaw heritage, including petroglyph viewings at Kejimkujik Seaside and the inland park. It is operated by Parks Canada.
Visit: Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site (park)
More by Janette Oke: All Janette Oke books
Other nearby maps: The Sacred Shore by Janette Oke & T. Bunn locations map · Anne of the Island by Lucy Maud Montgomery locations map · The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters locations map · Anne of Windy Poplars by Lucy Maud Montgomery locations map