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Madawaska South: Acadian Village LbNA #34319

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Aug 18, 2007
Location:
City:Van Buren
County:Aroostook
State:Maine
Boxes:1
Planted by:The von der Insels
Found by: C & H
Last found:May 26, 2008
Status:Fa
Last edited:Aug 18, 2007
Madawaska means ‘Land of the Porcupines’ in a native tongue. I’ve seen it said to be of Wulastuk-wick (Malecite – the ‘dwellers on the beautiful river’) or of Mikmaq origin, but it’s definitely Northern Algonquin. Despite the porcupines, the Acadians found the land to be both beautiful and generous for farming. The First Nations in the area – mostly the Wulastuk-wick – got along very well with this kind of European. The Acadians are a happy, family-oriented, music-loving, culturally-outgoing people.

Despite the Ashburton-Webster Treaty (or Webster-Ashburton Treaty, depending on who you ask), or our more recent border troubles, the border doesn’t separate the huge extended families ranging all through the St. John River Valley.

To find the southern half of the two boxes, drive along US Route 1 to the Acadian Village in Van Buren, Maine, just north of the downtown. (You can see more about it at http://www.connectmaine.com/acadianvillage/ ) It’s open every day for tours, officially from mid-June to mid-September, 12:00 to 5:00 PM, but Mrs. Roy, the President, says they have it open until 1 October.

The letterbox is just under the front steps – too easy! Look under the first step, on the left side of the steps. If the site is closed, you can still get the box, but if it’s open, why not take a look in? The village has houses from the whole timeline from the first Acadians arriving to the middle of the 20th century. Most especially, there are cookbooks on good home-style Acadian cooking! Make some plogues and cretons – good comfort food!

Of course, there's plogues et cretons in New Brunswick, too - as long as you're going for the Madawaska North letterbox in Edmundston.