Keywords: Acadian Village
Item 9810
Ouellette house, Van Buren, ca. 1850
Contributed by: L'Heritage Vivant Living Heritage Date: circa 1850 Location: Van Buren Media: Hand hewn logs, boarded walls
Item 116455
Acadian ship's knee joint, Van Buren, 1991
Contributed by: Acadian Archives Date: 1991-06-27 Location: Van Buren Media: photographic print
Exhibit
The Barns of the St. John River Valley: Maine's Crowning Jewels
Maine's St. John River Valley boasts a unique architectural landscape. A number of historical factors led to the proliferation of a local architectural style, the Madawaska twin barn, as well as a number of building techniques rarely seen elsewhere. Today, these are in danger of being lost to time.
Exhibit
The history of the region now known as Maine did not begin at statehood in 1820. What was Maine before it was a state? How did Maine separate from Massachusetts? How has the Maine we experience today been shaped by thousands of years of history?
Site Page
View collections, facts, and contact information for this Contributing Partner.
Site Page
L'Heritage Vivant Living Heritage
View collections, facts, and contact information for this Contributing Partner.
Lesson Plan
Longfellow Studies: "Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie"--Selected Lines and Illustrations
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Content Area: Social Studies, Visual & Performing Arts
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Maine's native son, is the epitome of Victorian Romanticism. Aroostook County is well acquainted with Longfellow's epic poem, Evangeline, because it is the story of the plight of the Acadians, who were deported from Acadie between 1755 and 1760. The descendants of these hard-working people inhabit much of Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.
The students enjoy hearing the story and seeing the ink drawings. The illustrations are my interpretations. The collection took approximately two months to complete. The illustrations are presented in a Victorian-style folio, reminiscent of the family gathered in the parlor for a Sunday afternoon reading of Evangeline, which was published in 1847.
Preparation Required/Preliminary Discussion:
Have students read "Evangeline A Tale of Acadie". Give a background of the Acadia Diaspora.
Suggested Follow-up Activities:
Students could illustrate their own poems, as well as other Longfellow poems, such as: "Paul Revere's Ride," "The Village Blacksmith," or "The Children's Hour."
"Tales of the Wayside Inn" is a colonial Canterbury Tales. The guest of the inn each tell stories. Student could write or illustrate their own characters or stories.
Appropriate calligraphy assignments could include short poems and captions for their illustrations. Inks, pastels, watercolors, and colored pencils would be other appropriate illustrative media that could be applicable to other illustrated poems and stories. Each illustration in this exhibit was made in India ink on file folder paper. The dimensions, including the burgundy-colors mat, are 9" x 12". A friend made the calligraphy.
