Explore the real-world places that appear in The Sacred Shore by Janette Oke & T. Bunn. 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 Grand-Pré, Memorial Church at Grand-Pré, Fort Anne, Annapolis Royal, Port-Royal Habitation, Minas Basin Shoreline at Grand-Pré and 7 more.
Minas Basin — the heart of Acadian farming country
Grand-Pré is the emblem of the Acadian world that families in the novel are torn from. Its dyked fields and farmsteads represent the home and community that the exiled Acadians yearn to recover. The memory of the village shapes how the displaced characters understand their identity, their families, and their faith.
Acadians settled Grand-Pré in the late 17th century and reclaimed marshland from the sea using dykes and aboiteaux. In 1755 the British deported the Acadian population of the village during the Great Expulsion.
Grand-Pré National Historic Site of Canada and UNESCO World Heritage Site preserves the landscape and interprets the Acadian story. Visitors can explore the memorial church, gardens, and exhibits.
Visit: Grand-Pré National Historic Site (historic site)
Grand-Pré National Historic Site — memory of the Expulsion
The church stands for the faith that sustains the banished Acadians as they drift in exile. Characters turn to prayer and memory of their parish as they search for identity in their community and in God.
The stone Memorial Church was built in 1922 on the approximate site of the original Saint-Charles-des-Mines parish church used by Acadians before 1755. It was designed as a commemorative building by the Dominion Atlantic Railway.
It serves as a museum with exhibits about Acadian history and the Deportation. It is part of the national historic site.
Visit: Grand-Pré Memorial Church (historic site)
Annapolis Royal — British seat of power in Nova Scotia
Fort Anne evokes the British authority that governs the fates of Acadians and colonists alike. The lonely British nobleman's hopes to secure his legacy are bound up with the colonial structures of power that the fort represents.
Fortified first by the French as Port-Royal, the site changed hands repeatedly before the British took it in 1710 and renamed it Annapolis Royal. It served as the capital of Nova Scotia until 1749.
Fort Anne National Historic Site preserves earthworks, a museum in the officers' quarters, and grounds open to the public.
Visit: Fort Anne National Historic Site (historic site)
Across the basin from Annapolis Royal — earliest Acadian roots
The reconstructed settlement represents the deep roots of the Acadian people on this coast. The novel's displaced families remember such beginnings as they try to hold their past and future together.
Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Dugua de Mons founded Port-Royal in 1605, one of the first European settlements north of Florida. The original was destroyed in 1613 by raiders from Virginia.
A reconstruction of the 1605 Habitation is operated by Parks Canada with costumed interpreters and exhibits.
Visit: Port-Royal National Historic Site (historic site)
Where the tides of the Bay of Fundy meet the land
The shore is the novel's central symbol: safety for the exiled and separation for others. Andrew and Catherine Harrow's parting is marked by the coastline, and the characters' journeys are as perilous as the tides and shoals.
The Minas Basin has some of the highest tides in the world, and the Acadians used it for transport and fishing as well as for farming dykelands. In 1755 deportation ships embarked from this coast.
Broad tidal flats and the Bay of Fundy shoreline can be viewed from the Grand-Pré area and nearby lookouts.
Horton Landing — embarkation point of the 1755 exiles
This shoreline stands for the moment the Acadians were forced onto ships and carried away from home. For families in the story, such landings mark the beginning of exile and the splitting of kin.
Acadians from Grand-Pré were marched to the shore at Horton Landing in autumn 1755 and loaded onto transport ships under Lt. Col. John Winslow. The ships dispersed them to British colonies along the Atlantic coast.
The Deportation Cross monument marks the site, with a quiet shoreline setting for visitors.
Visit: Deportation Cross at Horton Landing (monument)
Halifax — British military hub of Nova Scotia
Halifax represents the growing British hold on the region and the administrative reach that shapes the destinies of exiles and settlers. The nobleman's quest to secure his legacy moves within this colonial world of governors, ships, and land grants.
Halifax was founded in 1749 as a British military base to counter the French fortress at Louisbourg. The present Citadel dates from the 1850s, replacing earlier fortifications.
Halifax Citadel National Historic Site features a star fort, costumed interpreters, and views of the harbour.
Visit: Halifax Citadel National Historic Site (historic site)
Cape Breton Island — French stronghold on the Atlantic
Louisbourg stands for the French presence along the coast and the dangers of the wider conflict that uproots Acadian families. Refugees and travelers look to such strongholds for safety as their journeys wind along the perilous coastline.
The French built Louisbourg beginning in 1713 as a major naval and trading port. The British captured it in 1745 and again in 1758, and later demolished its fortifications.
Parks Canada operates a large reconstruction of the 1740s town with costumed staff and exhibits.
Visit: Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site (historic site)
Massachusetts Bay — destination of exiled Acadians
Ships carry the banished Acadians to English colonies such as Massachusetts, where they arrive in unfamiliar towns and uncertain welcome. Families separated by the voyage struggle to find one another and to keep their faith and identity.
Hundreds of Acadians were deported to Massachusetts in 1755 and dispersed among towns, often as dependents of local authorities. Many later migrated to Quebec, Louisiana, or France.
Boston's waterfront includes the Harborwalk and historic wharves that recall the colonial port.
Visit: Boston Harborwalk (park)
Minas Basin — red cliffs above the tidal waters
The headland frames the sacred shore where characters look out over the water and reflect on loss and hope. Its cliffs are a landmark for those traveling the dangerous coastline.
Cape Blomidon is a basalt headland rising about 180 meters over the Minas Basin and was a known landmark to Mi'kmaq and Acadians. It figures in Mi'kmaq legend as a home of the spirit Glooscap.
Blomidon Provincial Park offers trails, lookouts, and beach access along the cliffs.
Visit: Blomidon Provincial Park (park)
Minas Basin near Grand-Pré — tidal flats and shoreline
The wide shore is where families gather in memory and farewell, echoing the separation of Andrew and Catherine Harrow. Its sweeping tides mirror the characters' uncertain journeys.
Evangeline Beach takes its name from Longfellow's 1847 poem about the Acadian expulsion. It has long been associated with the shore of the deportation and is a noted shorebird migration site.
A public beach and viewing area where visitors watch the tides and migrating shorebirds.
Visit: Evangeline Beach (park)
Annapolis Valley — Acadian dykeland
The dyked marshes symbolize the labor and love that bound Acadian families to the land. Exiles recall such fields as the home they long to see again.
Acadians built the Belleisle dykes in the 17th century, reclaiming tidal marsh for farmland. Parts of the system are still in use today.
The marsh remains a farmed and wildlife area, with trails and a visitor-friendly wetland setting.
Visit: Belleisle Marsh Wildlife Management Area (park)
More by Janette Oke & T. Bunn: All Janette Oke & T. Bunn books
Other nearby maps: Anne of the Island by Lucy Maud Montgomery locations map · The Meeting Place by Janette Oke locations map · Anne of Windy Poplars by Lucy Maud Montgomery locations map · Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery locations map