Acadian House Museum 2.11

Acadian House Museum is a museum in West Chezzetcook, Nova Scotia, Canada. It opened in 1997 and is both a living and interpretive museum. The house is believed to have been built in 1850 by Joseph Bellefontaine. It passed through seven different owners before coming into the hands of the West Chezzetcook & Grand Desert Community Interest Group, who then converted the house into a museum.HistoryThe Acadian House was built in 1850 by Joseph Bellefontaine, who left the house to his wife, Céleste Bellefontaine upon his death in 1897. Céleste then passed the house to her brothers, Georges and Oliver Bonnevie. Georges' daughter, Jenny, bought the house from her father and uncle in 1919. Jenny and her husband ran a small store from the side porch from 1919 until 1946. In 1946, Jenny passed the house on to James Redmond, who was a distant relative. In 1960, Eugène Bellefontaine bought the house, and then passed it on to his son, Benjamin Bellefontaine, in 1973. The West Chezzetcook & Grand Desert Community Interest Group bought the house from Benjamin in 1997, converting it into a museum and officially opening in 2000.MuseumVery little renovation has been done to the house since it was purchased in 1997. The upstairs, which was unfinished, was finished to be used as storage for artifacts. Ceilings and floors have been redone, all under the advice of a consultant's report and the research of a local historian. Fortunately, the layout of the house remains untouched.The museum is a combination living and interpretive museum. The kitchen and pantry make for the living section. Careful research went into recreating an accurate representation of what was common of a kitchen and pantry in the 1850s. What were once bedrooms and a parlour are now interpretive rooms, containing information regarding the genealogy, industries, way of life and traditions of the local Acadian families.