The origins of such a village in the Caraquet area date back to 1965. Caraquet’s Chamber of Commerce was then busy elaborating on themes meant to help develop the tourism industry and this included an Acadian historical village, with houses such as those of Port-Royal and Grand-Pré in the 18th century. It was in 1969 that the Acadian Village Committee was formed and that a feasibility study was conducted and a project presented to the provincial Historic Resources Department. In 1971, it was finally announced that a historical village would be built in the Caraquet area. The following year, a $300,000 budget was allocated to start the building work and a furniture curator was hired.

An artifacts collection was then undertaken in the various regions of New Brunswick. At first, it was necessary to make an inventory of the needs encountered in the operation of the site and to make an action plan for the acquisition of the items needed.

It was first decided that the collection would be acquired by stages, in order to establish the specific requirements of each of the buildings. However, taking into account the schedule, this formula had to be modified. It was necessary to reconsider our acquisition policy and to aim it towards not only furnishing specific buildings but foremost towards building, as completely as possible, an artifacts collection representing the material civilization of New Brunswick Acadians starting in the 18th Century.

In doing so, the Village Historique Acadien was giving itself more latitude in the selection of the artifacts needed in its regular operation. It thus acquired an impressive reserve collection, from which it could have more flexibility in the selection and disposition of furnishings in the buildings of the Village.

An entire team of historians, curators, managers, and specialized workers took part in the research and work needed for the realization of the Village Historique Acadien. Buildings were carefully chosen, studied, dismantled, transported, rebuilt on the site and restored by the Village Historique Acadien’s teams.

Finally, after four intense years of work, the official opening took place on June 28th 1977. The village is then composed of many Acadian farming and commercial compounds dating mainly from the 19th century. All the buildings come from Acadian regions of New Brunswick. Overall, the Village included seventeen historical compounds in 1977. However, the development of the Village Historique Acadien is nowhere near the end. At the end of the 70’s and from the onset of the 80’s, several other buildings were added. The Thériault House, the Riordon Mill, the Cormier Woodworking Shop and the Printing Shop are added. Three buildings were also relocated: the Savoie and Martin Houses as well as the Cobbler’s Shop.

Finally, in 2001, a new section opened presenting the first part of the 20th century where you may visit a grand hotel, a tinsmith’s shop, different houses and a barrel-making shop.  Since then, others buildings were added such as an Irving Service Station, a sawmill, a general store and a railway station.     
 

Mandate

The Village Historique Acadien’s goal is to inform and educate people from all over the world about the daily life of Acadians between 1770 and 1949, through the interpretation of their material and real-life history in a re-created environment. This way of life is reflected by people who are intent on interpreting a style of living, and by original buildings and artifacts, by demonstrations of various traditional trades, and by cultural and folk events.

Mission

The Village Historique Acadien’s mission is to keep, preserve and promote the Acadian culture and heritage.

The Collection

The 8000 artifacts which constitute the Village Historique Acadien’s collection, and which were acquired in its first building phase, make it one of the most prestigious and complete collections relating to the Maritimes Acadian material civilization. It thus fulfills the goal established by the Village Historique Acadien: that is to be a forefront player in the research related to the Acadian material civilization from 1770 to 1900.

During the building of the second phase of the Village Historique Acadien, that is that of the 20th century, many new heritage pieces were acquired in order to furnish new buildings. These new pieces relate to the material civilization of New Brunswick’s Acadians from 1900 to 1949.
The goals and objectives of such a collection are as follows:
1. To interpret Acadian history of New Brunswick on the historical village site.
2. To keep and preserve New Brunswick’s Acadian heritage collections.
3. To educate via exhibitions to provide research opportunities.
4. To maintain a database on the collection and share this information with the public.

In 2012, the Village Historique Acadien is celebrating its 35 anniversary!  A great year to visit New Brunswick since it is also the 50th anniversary of the Festival Acadien, the 30th of the NB Aquatic and Marine Centre of NB in Shippagan and the 20th of Le Pays de la Sagouine.