Chezzetcook, Tracadie and Havre Boucher

Many of the Acadians who escaped, or survived the Great Upheaval of 1755 to 1763, either died of exposure, or were captured and imprisoned as "Prisoners of War". Makeshift detention centers were often old trading posts such as Fort Edward in the Windsor (Piziquid) area, Fort Beauséjour (Cobiquid), or isolated spots like George's Island in Halifax Harbour, and in Halifax's Northwest Arm. In these horrible living quarters, many detainees either died or endured several years of misery until the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1763, officially ending the Deportation. With the signing of the Treaty of Paris, many of the Acadians who had been held prisoners settled in the Chezzetcook area, a coastal community, a short any distance east of Halifax. Some of the Chezzetcook families later settled in what is now Tracadie, while Havre Boucher was settled mostly by family clusters from the Ile Madame area in an attempt to restart their lives peacefully and removed from the British threat in Halifax. However, several of the Chezzetcook families petitioned for land in the Tor Bay and New Harbour areas, and around 1797 several families came here to establish a new home in peace and freedom. They arrived by boat and by land and were later joined by Acadians of the Tracadie and Havre Boucher regions, many of whom were relatives or friends of these former Chezzetcook settlers.,