DIY Genealogy: Nova Scotia Map-History Fusion

Mapannapolis: Website Home Page

Acadian Map-History Fusion.

What do you get when you combine the technological know-how of Nova Scotia's Centre for Geographic Sciences (COGS) and the ingenuity of a group of family historians? Mapannapolis, of course!

This innovative project, recognized in 2017 by the Governor General of Canada for Excellence in Community History Programming, began in 2012 when students studying digital map creation (GIS mapping) were asked to map something a little bit different: heritage buildings and structures, graveyards, and churches.

The result was maps of:

• the first 17th century Acadian settlements along the Annapolis River; 
• 18th century Black Loyalist settlements; 
• the 43 existing and historical wharves to record Annapolis County’s early economic development; 
• pre-European arrival canoe routes; and 
• community trails in several villages.

Additionally, Acadian settlements and graveyards were studied and, on the discovery of several unmarked burials, mapped with ground-penetrating radar. 

By combining historical research with digital mapping, Mapanapolis has now created several "Storymaps" as a visual way to help tell these stories of the Annapolis region.

Additionally, they have created the Port-Royal Journal, a series dedicated to revealing Acadians' everyday life in the half-century preceding the Great Deportation. Sourced from the "An Acadian Parish Remembered" collection of registers hosted by the Nova Scotia Archives, the Port-Royal Journal maps and shares profiles of these individuals who resided in the St-Jean-Baptiste Parish from 1702-1755.

Both Mapannapolis and An Acadian Parish Remembered are free resources.

Nova Scotia Archives: An Acadian Parish Remembered