My great grandmother, Ella Lou Fontenot, 1860-1902 was born in Bayou Ridge (later changed to Evergreen, LA.). I have been unable to locate either father or mother for Ella.
This is what took my wife and I to Nova Scotia a couple of years ago, to try to find the family name and possibly a connection. There were rumors that my mother’s side of the family was Acadian but I have no documentation to support that. We did not locate anything which only means we will be going back.
That brings us to the trip, 31 days on the road Triking from the DFW, TX area. We left the DFW area, by-passing all interstates and worked our way to Maggie Valley, NC to the Wheels of Time motorcycle museum. From Maggie Valley on east to Nags Head NC and Kill Devil Hills. From their up the eastern sea board taking the ferry to Cape Mae. From there into Philadelphia and the constitution trail. On to Reading, Allentown, Poughkeepsie, Green Mountain National Forest then over to Portland and back to the seaboard, bypassing New York, Providence and Boston. Into Canada and to Saint John’s on the bay of Fundy.
https://wheelsthroughtime.com/museum...xoCiPgQAvD_BwE
We dallied a bit at Alma to watch the incredible tides on the bay of Fundy. This is the location of some of the most extreme tides in the world.
http://bayoffundytourism.com/worlds-...nce-the-tides/
From there on to Sydney, NS. We had no plans at this moment to visit Newfoundland but that would soon change. We were determined to see Cabot’s Trail, one of the most iconic, bucket list roads in the Western Hemisphere, it certainly lived up to the hype. Unfortunately for us, the trail was foggy for our entire visit, it was still worth the trip. While there, we discovered the town of Baddeck, a wonderful village, on the Trail and the retirement home of Alexander Graham Bell. The town of Baddeck, a seafaring village, was and still is Gaelic. Bell’s ancestry was Gaelic and he was fluent in the language. This is the reason he came to the area. There is a museum in Baddeck dedicated to Bell.
http://visitbaddeck.com/
While in Baddeck, we were talking to some local’s (I must say, the roads are for the most part very good and the people were more than wonderful every place we went) and they asked us if we were going to go to Newfoundland. A discussion ensued and buy the time we left, we were mapping out the way to Newfoundland.
https://www.planetware.com/tourist-a...dn-nf-nfsj.htm
From North Sydney, by ferry it is 8 hours to Channel-Port aux Basques and 16 hours to Argentia which is close to the Capitol of St. John’s. *** Caution some ferry’s do not run daily *** You really want to visit St. John’s. We elected to take the ferry to Basques, arriving just before dark. We had not thought this through and found ourselves with no place to stay and it was getting dark. Note: accommodation can be difficult to find on a moment’s notice, it is best to have the next evenings lodging set the day before. We were in luck and tool the last room at a little town of Tompkins. From there we took the Trans-Canadian Hwy to St. John’s with many stops along the way. It took 2 ½ days to get to St.
John’s. One of the first things you notice is that St. John’s has more pubs than any place you have been in the western hemisphere.
From St. John’s, back to Sydney NS for the night then the coast roads through Louisbourg (a fortress town), Halifax and on in to the Arcadian areas south of Halifax, down to Shag Harbour and on around to the west side of the island, inquiring along the way to the family name.
We took the ferry to PEI, a little disappointed, nice country side but nothing really outstanding.
From there we headed to Quebec City. Soon discovering that this is a destination all by itself. The castle fortress is incredible and the shops are to die for. The town rivals San Francisco when it come so hillside buildings.
https://www.quebecregion.com/en/
Heavy storms were coming off the west coast so we decided to head straight back to Texas from Quebec City and got as far as Tennessee before the weather caught us. We were stuck for a 1 ½ days then made it home.
Some notes: No firearms, Passports required, minor indiscretions can cause a problem at the border, I have never had a problem in western Canada but twice in eastern Canada I was bounced about pretty good for some miss deeds that happen when I was a teen some 50 years ago, never denied entry but made a bit unpleasant. You will learn to love Tim Horton’s very quickly. Sort of like our Starbucks but on steroids. As one Canadian explained to us, it is their addiction and I believe it. Free Wi-Fi that always works, clean bathrooms, great coffee + soups and sandwiches that are just incredible. I actually saw 2 Tim Horton’s on the same block; they are everywhere in Eastern Canada.
A lot of rambling, hope some of this helps, all the previous suggestion are good as well.
The picture is Long Point Lighthouse, Twillingate Island, Newfoundland
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Would like some help re: Nova Scotia & Newfoundland trip
Originally Posted by Gorilla
