Acadian Culture in Maine

a musical history

with Robert Sylvain, Jr.

Many young people don’t realize that once all of Maine was called Acadia.  Arriving in 1604, the Acadians were the first colonists of Maine, the “French Neutrals” whose deportation from Nova Scotia was chronicled in Longfellow’s epic poem, Evangeline.  Acadian culture is distinct and alive in American society today, and can be witnessed in the unique music, cuisine, language, customs and attitudes of today’s Acadian-Mainers, as well as in the remarkable culture of the the Acadians of Louisiana, known as the Cajuns.