Over the Border: Acadia

In the rooms of the Historical Society, in Boston, hangs a portrait of a distinguished looking person in quaint but handsome costume of antique style. The gold embroidered coat, long vest with large and numerous buttons, elegant cocked hat under the arm, voluminous white scarf and powdered peruke, combine to form picturesque attire which is most becoming to the gentleman therein depicted, and attract attention to the genial countenance, causing the visitor to wonder who this can be, so elaborately presented to the gaze.


A physiognomist would not decide upon such representation as a “counterfeit presentment” of the tyrannical leader of the expedition which enforced the cruel edict of exile,—“In the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of Minas; where Distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand Pré Lay in the fruitful valley.” Yet this is Lieutenant-Colonel John Winslow, great-grandson of one of the founders of the Plymouth Settlement. Could he forget that his ancestors fled from persecution, and came to this country to find peaceful homes?