Areas of interest:

In front of La Pirogue Museum, a pirogue boat and an anchor from the harbour. In the background: the Cheticamp Co-Op Fish Plant.

Description, purpose:

To pay tribute to pioneers in the local fishing industry, as well as to the cooperative movement; to reflect the struggles endured by the fishing community (including the recent downturns);
to highlight the evolution of fishing equipment (boats, gear).

The CDC is attempting to foster initiatives which will reflect and compliment the local infrastructure, not alter it.

The Building and its location:

This entirely new museum building is located on Cheticamp's main street, across the Robin store.

It is right on the waterfront, between two significant local enterprises: Fish Haven, which used to be a major unloading site in the 1980s, and the Co-Op Fish Plant (the very first fishermen's cooperative in Canada, founded 1955).

The 3-level building, with its traditional wood frame and wood shingles, is inspired from the architecture of the large and affluent Robin family home on Cheticamp Island. A gallery runs outside, all around the 3rd level.

La Pirogue is housed in a state-of-the-art construction using renewable energy (the building is heated with distilled salt water and solar panels -- a system promoted by Advanced Glazings, North Sydney), and equipped with a sound system, a security system and closed-circuit cameras.

It offers a large, bright conference room and a mezzanin overlooking the museum's boutique.

Financed by : ECBC, through the Fisheries Restructuring Adjustment Measures (FRAM), HRDC, Nova Scotia Dept. of Tourism and Culture, the Cheticamp Kinsmen, the Harbour Authority of Cheticamp, and the community.

One of the 27 magnificent photographs acquired by La Pirogue, the work of Gilbert van Ryckevorsel

For more about the photographer:

Gilbert van Ryckevorsel

Layout of La Pirogue Museum:

On the lower level (i.e., Boardwalk level):

* An old Acadian homestead, divided in two sections: one for domestic life and related artifacts, one for the man's workshop

*The Gilbert Van Ryckevorsel Gallery ("Gallery of the Sea")

On mid-level - Front entrance/welcoming area - the 2nd level of the Museum:

* A replica of Charles Robin' s original store
* The history of the Co-Op movement in the Chéticamp area
* The fisheries in Cheticamp: fish species; fishing techniques; the downfall of the industry, and government programs (TAGS, FRAM)

* A children's area with: interactive games on two computer stations, a model lighthouse
* Giftshop
* Old photographs gallery

On the upper (3rd) level:

* Administrative offices
* Conference room / reception area (for rentals, call Stella)
* Mezzanin

Interpretation and animation:

La Pirogue Museum, a fusion of the traditional and the modern, is well equipped to create a total environment, with a sound system playing nature sounds (seagulls, water flowing) and music (Acadian fiddle).

It is an interactive museum with bilingual interpreters performing tasks such as: making fishing nets, drying fish, building lobster traps, making "tapis à brayons", and it is also equipped with computers.

It makes full use of the 500-ft boardwalk for crafts and trades demonstrations. On the museum grounds, the visitor will see some artifacts, e.g., in front:
* a wooden statue of "Willy" in his fishing attire, complete with the south'wester
* a lobster trap ("attrape à homards"), 7 x 8 ft
* the replica of a pirogue boat
* the anchor (recently recovered from the harbour) of a boat which had Pierre Trudeau on board, in the 1970s
* etc.

Lisette, who is
doing internship
at the museum.

General information:

Museum open from May to November 1st

Daily, 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Parking lot
Bus tours welcome

Special group and family rates. CAA/AAA/AARP discounts.
Admission: adults $5;
children age 6-12: $3; under 6, free

For sale at the museum's giftshop:
(featuring only locally-made items):

Local crafts, such as wood carvings, stuffed animals, original souvenirs.

Other Acadian museums and heritage sites in Chéticamp:

Le Musée Acadien, Chéticamp

Co-op artisanale and Restaurant (next to the Acadian Museum)

Les Trois Pignons

Église Saint-Pierre

and, religious heritage from Jersey:

Old Jersey Church (St. Paul's Anglican Church)

For information about the history of the area, accommodations, etc.:

The official site for Cheticamp and St-Joseph-du-Moine

Surface area:

(Exhibits only) approx. 1,200 sq. ft.

The collections / exhibits:

The support shown by local residents has been overwhelming; many donations of materials and artifacts were made to the museum.

All those artifacts are properly catalogued.

Many objects are of great interest:

In the traditional Acadian house (lower level),
the visitor will see these:

Large dresser, cast iron stove, table from old Cap-Rouge, dishes, glass rolling pin, trunk, washboard, ironing irons, sewing machine, frame for hooking rugs (with folding legs), carding tools, old vinyle records, various instruments and tools;

various lobster traps, yoke for carrying water, fishing gear incl. a "tub à trawl" (a large, deep bucket to store a net with hooks set every 18"), a hauler for lobster traps, a stall for drying cod, etc.

In the Gallery of the Sea (lower level):

20 remarkably beautiful, large photographs which, with the obscurity and the surrounding sounds in the room, are creating for the visitor a feel for the cold underwater marine environment.

A rowing boat
of the type
which was used
for fishing
in the 30s and 40s
(reproduction
made by
Kenneth Frasier,
Frasier & Chiasson).

In the Robin General Store, on the mid-level (2nd level of Museum):

An authentic, rare piece:
the cash register
from the Robin Store.

Original store records from 1832 and on; an impressive cash register; catalogues, medicine bottles, cans of various products that would have been for sale at the store (incl. a bottle of "St. Ann's oil" from St. Anne-de-Beaupré, Que.); and a family tree of the Robins (incl. the Marys and Leboutilliers in Chéticamp).

Below, a reconstitution of the old Robin Store
(partial view) with original artifacts, at La Pirogue

The Robins in Chéticamp

The history of Chéticamp has been shaped by the Philip Robin Company (later "the Charles Robin Company"), a family firm from Jersey (one of the Channel Islands). After 1765, many fishermen from Jersey came to the Cheticamp area, making it a base for drying fish. The Robins arrived in the late 1760's to exploit the fisheries.

For more on this topic, click here:

Charles Robin

Channel Islands Connections

Above, some of the original documents retracing the history of the cooperative movement in the area

William Roach
(Sunset Art Gallery, Cheticamp)
has made a whole series
of life-size fish specimens
in painted wood for La Pirogue;
he also built the small lighthouse
inside the Museum.

Staff Members:

Mathias Poirier, Executive Director;
Stella Chiasson, Executive Assistant;
Diane Bourgeois, Animator/Interpreter;
Gisèle LeBlanc, Animator/Interpreter;
Lisette Poirier, Intern from Collège de l'Acadie

La Pirogue will have a staff of 13 full-time people.

The heart
and soul
of the Pirogue Museum,
from left to right:

Gisèle,
Mathias,
Diane, and
Stella.

Contact information:

Mathias Poirier, Executive Director

E-mail La Pirogue

La Pirogue's own web site (new!)

Other interesting / related sites in the Chéticamp area:

Cheticamp Co-Op

Cheticamp Development Commission (CDC)

Collège de l'Acadie (in Saint-Joseph-du-Moine)

Cheticamp Boatbuilders

Cheticamp Whale Cruises

Plage Saint-Pierre