Our first excursion on Prince Edward Island (PEI) is to the west side that’s called North Cape Coast. This area is home to Acadians that we’ll learn more about at the end of this post. Our first stop was The Bottle Houses (yes, plural).
This is the driving map for the North Cape Coast (in purple). Each area has its own name and color. I always like to know where I am.
So we saw the bottle, and pulled in to the parking lot.
This entrance bottle was built by the grandson of the builder who built the houses we’ll be seeing. It’s made up of 2000 recycled bottles in 2002.
entering gardens surrounding the buildings
chapel
See the pillars? More later.
Edouard Arsenault started building this chapel in 1983 and used around 8000 bottles. It was his last building since he passed away in his sleep on May 31, 1984.
Fisherman by trade and the last light-keeper for the nearby lighthouse, Edouard also worked as a carpenter during the non-fishing seasons most of his life. His carpentry included boat building and construction work. Sounds like he was a hardworking man who never slowed down.
He channeled his creative energy and sense of humor, very much Acadian, into his project of transforming over 25,000 bottles into the buildings we get to enjoy. He started this project when he was in his 60s!
let’s go inside
A few lucky couples have been married here.
We read that the pillars of the chapel were never finished. Bet he had planned on extending them so they really looked like spires.
Where did his bottles come from for the chapel? Back in the 1970s, local catholic parishes normally discarded their colorful votive holders after they were used, so Edouard started collecting them for re-use here.
walk to the next building
6-gabled bottle house
This is the first house Edouard built in 1980 where he used around 12,000 bottles. It was rebuilt in 1995 because of structural damage from the yearly spring thaws affecting the foundation’s railroad ties.
Back then the only recycling for glass except for pop and beer bottles; everything else went to the dump. So each week Edouard took his old truck and gathered bottles from local dance halls, the legion, restaurants, and of course the dump. People started hearing about his project and brought their bottles to him—he was a recycler before his time. People still bring their bottles here from all over the world.
Edouard spent a long winter cleaning the bottles and removing their labels and then sorting all of them. In spring of 1980, he started building while he was still in the mode of seeing this project as a challenge and a hobby. People started visiting and encouraged him to continue building. In 1981 it was opened officially to the public.
close up of the bottle colors, sizes and types.
lighthouse
Edouard was the last resident light-keeper at the Cap-Egmont lighthouse and lived there with his wife and 2 daughters until the lighthouse was automated in 1957. The family moved to the residence currently on the property, and 2 sons were born shortly afterward.
This lighthouse replica was built to honor him for his service.
tavern bottle building
The tavern is a reflection of Edourard’s sense of humor and love of fun. He built this 2nd building in 1982 using around 8000 bottles. At first it housed the handcrafts and souvenirs sold here. It was also rebuilt in 1993 because of foundation problems. However, the roof and central cylinder were maintained during the reconstruction.
introduction to the Acadians in the Evangeline area
In the gift shop we started talking to Carmella, who is from this area. In fact, her husband grew up in the house next to The Bottle Houses.
If you want some more information about the Acadians and their deportations (one was to Louisiana where they became Cajuns), keep on reading at the end of this post.
driving to next stop
Realizing that we needed some nourishment before our next stop, we stopped at a Tim Hortons (they’re everywhere) for lunch. Remember our Canadian mystery series (Louise Penney is the author) that we mentioned in St. Martins when I was looking for licorice pipes? A Surete detective officerswould often make a coffee stop for the others and bring them donuts and coffee double-double (2 sugars and 2 creams). We just had to eat lunch at one.
The pastries look delicious. May have to find another one.
background of Acadians here on PEI and why the name of Evangeline (I was a literature major so knew a little about it)
I was more than a little confused when I started reading about the deportations of the Acadians here on PEI, because it wasn’t the same time or results as the deportation we learned about on New Brunswick. Or so we thought.
Early on, France was in control of all of the northern part of North America, and England was trying to gain a foothold with their colonies along the eastern seaboard.
where they came from, where they lived, how they lived – 1st deportation
So here we go with what Wikipedia has to say.
“During the early 1600s, about sixty French families were established in Acadia. They developed friendly relations with the Wabanaki Confederacy (particularly the Mi’kmaq), learning their hunting and fishing techniques. The Acadians lived mainly in the coastal regions of the Bay of Fundy; farming land reclaimed from the sea through diking. Living in a contested borderland region between French Canada (modern Quebec) and British territories, the Acadians often became entangled in the conflict between the powers. Over a period of seventy-four years, six wars took place in Acadia and Nova Scotia in which the Confederacy and some Acadians fought to keep the British from taking over the region.”
The Seven Years’ War in Europe, known as the French and Indian War in Canada, was a global war fought between 1756 and 1763. It involved every European great power of the time and spanned 5 continents, affecting Europe, the Americas, West Africa, India, and the Philippines. The conflict split Europe into two coalitions: England and France. At the end of the war when England won, Britain got all of the French North American land east of the Mississippi River.
The beginning of the deportation of the Acadians from Nova Scotia and adjacent areas to points around the Atlantic rim started in 1755 and went on until 1763 when the war ended. It displaced 10,000 to 18,000 people, and was the cause of many deaths. This was a defining moment in the history of the Acadian people as it irrevocably changed the human geography of what is today Canada’s Maritime Provinces.
Because the British thought the Acadians were aligned with the French, they ordered the Acadians’ communities to be destroyed and homes and barns burned down. Many were put in jail, and many died at sea. Others ran away to Quebec, hid with the local natives in Nova Scotia, or went to present-day New Brunswick or Prince Edward Island.
The people were dispersed among the 13 American colonies, but many refused them and sent them on to Europe. Families were torn apart, and many lost everything they owned.
Acadians call this event the Great Upheaval. In English it is the Expulsion.
As a result of the deportation and the subsequent migrations, the Acadians ended up in the New England States and all along the eastern seaboard, as far south as Georgia.
In 1764 when the war was over, the British started allowing the Acadians to move back.
From 1765 to 1785, about 3,000 Acadians traveled from France to settle in Louisiana. Many also came from their homes in Nova Scotia. Louisiana was then a colony of Spain, but the Acadians managed to retain their French culture. Their descendants, the Cajuns, continued to keep their language and lifestyle and became a major cultural influence.
In 1847, the famous American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published Evangeline. It would eventually be translated in over 130 languages. The world discovered the tragic history of the Acadian people, as she became a folk hero.
Although there were many regional differences, Acadians were able to maintain a distinct culture within a much larger majority.
I sure hope I got all of this history straight. I remember reading fiction about this time period that indicated the move to Louisiana was a forced deportation, but maybe not so much. We went to the site of both French and British forts from the 1700s that have more info on this time period, so we’ll be looking at it again. Let me know if I need to change anything.
This post is just an overview of history, but currently the Acadians are living in PEI and other places, growing and thriving, loving their communities.
