Pubnico is the oldest continually lived in Acadian Village in Nova Scotia, which means the world, I guess, since Nova Scotia was the first place there were Acadians. This is the best map I could find of the little village. Each structure has an Acadian person in it, to explain it. All these people can trace their family in Pubnico back 11 generations to the 1700's. They still practice the same arts and crafts their ancestors did, as far as quilting, knitting, gardening, raising pigs and livestock, cooking, wordwork, fishing, building boats, etc. They were fascinating. The first lady standing with George was Judy, and the other lady (whose picture I'm very regretful I didn't even take) was Laura. They were both in the process of cooking different things on the wood burning stove, like Aunt May's. Judy offered us a freshly made molasses cookie when we came in, and then showed us all around the house, including the quilt which she was in the process of hand quilting. (They, of course, sold these quilts in the gift shop for around $800.) Judy was also cooking a huge pot of the leftover potatoes from peeling potatoes for another dish. She said they cooked them for the pigs, cause the pigs didn't like them raw.) Actually, she said that the 'old people' said that raw potatoes would give the pigs worms, but she said she didn't know if she believed that or not. Laura also showed us around and also told us that her mother had been born in that very house, and she showed us the room where the mother and her 2 sisters slept in the same bed. There were 3 daughters and 9 brothers in that family, and the boys slept in 2 rooms upstairs, and the mother and father had another bedroom. Of course, the guides also showed us old pictures of the houses, and also showed us on the floor planks, what the original 1 room house had looked like, before the family started adding on. Laura was making (among other things; both ladies were making several dishes) a cucumber relish, which was absolutely delicious. She told us we could buy it in the gift shop, but by the time we got there, it was gone, she I went back and she wrote down the recipe for me. The ingredients were all ground up, like on the 'chop' cycle on the blender, so I asked her how she did it....expecting to see a nice blender in the kitchen where she had chopped the ingredients. But LO... it was an old foodgrinder, like my grandmother used. These folks were the real thing!
The short man above/left showed us the 1 cylinder, 2 cycle gas marine engine, like the first ones used when these people changed from sailing fishing boats to engine operated. He also showed us the dock, and I tried to show you how very high the tide was, but you can 't see through the water to see that the other dock is below the water. The older man in the fuzzy picture was a boat builder, and he showed us exactly how it was done, and showed us plans, etc. Told us the wood types that were used for each part. The younger man also showed us a lobster claw which was as big as George's head. I just really didn't take enough pictures, but I was totally caught up in these people. The lobster had died on the way back home, after being put in the boat by the fisherman. (only his claw was in the trap...he would NOT have fit in the trap), and they can't be sold dead, so the man decided to put it on an ant hill, to get rid of the meat, and then keep his skeleton. But an animal came in the night and stole everything but the claws, and those were what we saw. They were enormous! The little wooden thing is a lobster peg. It used to be used by the lobster fishermen to slip into the joint of the huge claw, so the lobster couldn't pinch them. but when government controls came, they government wouldn't let them do it anymore, cause it bruised the meat. So now they use rubber bands.
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