6 minute read
The salty, vibrant French coast
The Pubnicos, then and now
BY DARCY RHYNO
Hubert d’Eon, a retired fisherman playing a boat builder, holds up a knee in the boat shop at Le Village Historique Acadien de la NouvelleÉcosse (the Historic Acadian Village of Nova Scotia) in West Pubnico. Behind him, a punt is under construction. Tools are arranged on the walls and the aroma of fresh wood fills the air.
“A punt is a small boat fishermen used to go from shore to boats moored nearby,” explains d’Eon. “This piece joins the bottom of the boat to the side. It looks like a hockey stick. This is the strongest part of the tree, the trunk and root. I look for trees that have blown over with the root system sticking out the ground.”
All over the village, skilled interpreters work their time-consuming crafts. In the blacksmith shop, Ronnie d’Entremont builds up his coal fire before heating, then hammering, a white-hot length of metal into a wedge-shaped nail. “There’s an old saying,” he says as he works, “strike while the iron is hot.”
In the next building, Olen d’Entremont weaves a net. “I was a fisherman. Now, I pretend I’m a fisherman. That’s pretty cool,” he says. “I’m making a gill net, a winter project for fishermen.” By passing the shuttle strung with twine this way and that, he makes a single mesh, one of the openings in the net that catches a single herring. For a 185-square-metre (2,000-square-foot) net, he makes this series of passes 210,000 times, taking 10 weeks.
Roger d’Entremont, the village board president, joins me for a stroll around the seven-hectare site. “Here, you can step back in time and see how Acadians lived in the early 1900s,” he says. Laundry flaps on a clothesline in the coastal breeze, a woman mends a stick fence, a wheelwright builds a wagon wheel. Children tend gardens, bake biscuits, dip candles, and roll down a hill for fun. Cows graze in a pasture overlooking a salt marsh where haystacks stand like giant mushroom caps on wooden platforms.
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree around here,” d’Entremont says. The Pubnicos are one of the oldest Acadian communities in Canada. Founded in 1653, this is where French settlers Philippe Muis d’Entremont, Marie Helie, and their daughter Marguerite built the first home in what the Indigenous Mi’kmaw called Pogomkook. A century later, on July 28, 1755, British Governor Charles Lawrence ordered the expulsion of Acadians from what is now Eastern Canada, including Pubnico. After government lifted the expulsion order in 1763, some families returned to discover that English settlers had established themselves on the east side of the harbour.
Even today, some 250 years later, Acadians are concentrated in Pubnico and West Pubnico with a presence in East Pubnico. Together, the Pubnicos are a thriving community that takes pride in its history. Fishing boats are docked several abreast at Dennis Point wharf, the largest commercial fishing wharf in Atlantic Canada, testifying to the rural lifestyle beside the Atlantic Ocean on which Pubnico depends. More than 1,000 fishers make their living here. The day of my visit, an experience called Living Wharves is under way.
“It’s very hard work,” says interpreter Louise Deveau of fishing. She talks about the dangers of working at sea and the best way to cook lobster, steamed in just a little water. As seagulls screech overhead, Deveau shows me how to splice rope with a tool called a fid. Living Wharves is a hands-on experience, so after her demonstration, she encourages me to try.
Acadians grew and harvested everything they needed for their pantries and medicine cabinets. At the nearby Musée des Acadiens des Pubnicos, Elaine Surette, president of the historical society that runs the museum, says,
“The Acadians learned how to use Indigenous medicinal plants and herbs.” As we walk the historically accurate gardens, our tour is set to the rhythm of Indigenous drummers celebrating centuries-deep ties with Acadians.
I complete my visit at Boatskeg Distilling, where two fishermen, Roddy d’Eon and Justin d’Entremont, craft spirits in a former boat-building shop. Both of d’Eon’s grandfathers were bootleggers, and when d’Entremont was looking for a purpose for the now unused boat shop, the idea of the distillery was born.
“That’s a boat skeg,” says D’Eon, pointing to the wall where one is displayed. “Underneath the propeller, the piece of wood that sticks out is a skeg.” Because of the rumours that kegs of booze were once buried here during prohibition, the name “boats keg” has a clever double meaning.
I order their top seller, salted caramel vodka on ice and toast the view: a seagrass meadow before shimmering waters. It seems the salt of the sea and the spirit of the Pubnicos are distilled right into my Boatskeg cocktail.
Fishcakes
A traditional recipe using leftovers from a typical salt cod dinner called Patates, Molue et d’la graisse from the Café du Crique at the Historic Acadian Village.
Ingredients
1 yellow onion, chopped
1-2 tbsp (15-30 mL) fat from making lard scrunchions (fat pork scraps)
1-2 tbsp (15-30 mL) scrunchions
3 cups (700 mL) cooked mashed potatoes
1-1 ½ cups (250-375 mL) salt cod, rinsed, soaked and boiled
A little flour
1 egg
Salt, pepper, and summer savory
Directions the rural lifestyle beside the Atlantic Ocean on which Pubnico depends. More than 1,000 fishers make their living here. The day of my visit, an experience called Living Wharves is under way.
Cook onion in fat. When golden brown, add to mashed potatoes, smashed scrunchions, and pulled salt cod. You may use half salt cod and half fresh haddock to give a lighter taste. Add salt, savory, and pepper to taste and mix well. Add egg to help bind the mixture. Form into balls and flatten into patties. Roll in flour and fry until golden brown on both sides. Serve with homemade chow chow, AKA green tomato salsa. Fishcakes can also be frozen.
