Beaubassin
Beaubassin was the name given by the Acadians to several geographical entities: a bay at the head of the Bay of Fundy (Baie Française), to an Acadian settlement near the mouth of the Mesagouèche (or Missiquash, today Missaguash) River founded about 1671 or 1672, and also more generally to a region including numerous small Acadian hamlets in the vicinity of the modern-day provincial border between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
The upper end of the Bay of Fundy splits into two smaller bays, known as the Minas Basin and the Chignecto Basin. The Chignecto then splits in two again, forming the Baie Chipoudie (Shepody Bay) and the Baie Beaubassin (today Cumberland Bay).
The first year-round settlement by Europeans in the Baie Beaubassin area was the Mesagouèche Point settlement (called by some the Bourgeois settlement) founded on the south bank of the Mesagouèche (today Missaquash) River, at the western tip of what is now known as the Fort Lawrence Ridge in Nova Scotia, near the New Brunswick border. Today, the site is along Fort Lawrence Road, west of the junction with highway 104, where a Nova Scotia tourist information site is located. On the opposite side of the valley stands the partially restored Fort Beauséjour, on the New Brunswick side of the border.
The settlement was formed by a small Acadian party from Port Royale led by Jacques Bourgeois about 1671 or 1672, probably seeking both expansive farmlands for their descendants (the suitable lands around the Annapolis Valley of Port Royal were filling up quickly), as well as to distance themselves from the authoritarian officials at Port Royal and thus pursue their farming and trading with less government interference.
It is believed that in addition to Jacques Bourgeois and his family, the party included ....