Recollection of a very peculiar occurrence 
     
    
   
   
    
     Salut et bonjour! Je m’appelle Jayne Emery‘ 
     
    
   
   
    
     Je suis la fillc de Ken Emery, le président de la Beifizst Historical Socierv. This is a truc story that took placc on 
     
     June 25th. 2005 at the Lord Selkirk Provincial Park in Eldon. Prince Edward lsland. site of an ancicnt Acadian 
     
     burial ground followed later by Scottish interments and now thc site ofthe Acadian-Scot Mcmorial Cäirn. 
     
    
   
   
    
     t was around 10:00 in the morning, on a sunny 
     
    

    
     bright day of June, that occurred the peculiar event 
     
    

    
     that is about to unfold. The event took place at 
     
     Lord Selkirk Park on the day that preceded the dedication 
     
     of the memorial cäirn with its two plaques remembering the 
     
     trials and injustices suffered by the Acadian and Scottish 
     
     people, in particular the Acadian Deportation of 1755-1762 
     
     and the martyrdom in 1305 of William Wallace, the chief 
     
     champion of Scotland‘s independence. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The occasion for the dedication was therefore the 
     
     observance of two anniversaries, the first being the 250"I 
     
     anniversary (1755-2005) of the beginning of the Acadian 
     
     Deportation which took place in Acadie (peninsular Nova 
     
     Scotia) and continued in 1758 on Isle Saint-Jean (now 
     
     P.E.I.), especially as regards the Pointe-Prime area, and 
     
     the second being the 700'h anniversary (1305-2005) of the 
     
    
   
   
    
     martyrdom of William Wallace. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The text of the much bigger plaque was composed by three 
     
     members of the Sister Antoinette DesRoches Historical 
     
     Committee (Francis Blanchard, David Le Gallant, Georges 
     
     Arsenault) while the text of the bottom smaller plaque 
     
     was composed by David Le Gallant on behalf of the 
     
     Association du Musée acadien de l’Î.-P.-É. and Ken Emery 
     
     on behalf of our Belfast Historical Society. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The date of the said peculiar occurrence was June 25'“, 
     
     2005, the morning before the official dedication of the cäirn 
     
     which was to take place at 2 o’clock the next day. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Ken Emery, the president of the Belfast Historical Society 
     
     at the time, was on the site checking for last minute 
     
     details before the dedication, when he happened across an 
     
     extremely tall, strong elderly Scotsman who stood about 
     
     6 feet, 6 inches at least. 
     
    
   
   
    
     This very rugged-looking, upright gentleman had long, 
     
     long arms and large strong bony knuckles and was wearing 
     
     a tweed cap and a tweed jacket. ln his hand he carried a 
     
     large gnarled wooden walking stick. Ken was working 
     
    
   
   
    
     2007 
     
    
   
   
    
     LA PETITE SOUVENANCE 
     
    
   
   
    
     at the cäirn, finishing up the molding around thc plaque 
     
     when he saw the shadow. He looked up to see a very polite, 
     
     well-mannered gentleman with a thick Scots burl. Ken 
     
     introduced himself, and the Scots gentleman told him his 
     
     name was Mr. Brown and that he was from Ottawa. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The mysterious gentleman stood by the cäirn looking at 
     
     the inscription, reading it very slowly. Down at the bottom 
     
     of the plaque was a short description of William Wallace. 
     
    
   
   
    
     In a few moments he finished reading the inscription and 
     
     he said the French were very fine people, and then he went 
     
     on to talk about William Wallace, and Ken felt from the 
     
     way he talked that Ken himself should have known William 
     
     Wallace. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The gentleman asked Ken if he had ever seen Wallace’s 
     
     sword. Ken said he hadn’t, but would like to see it, but he 
     
     had never been to Scotland, though would like to go if he 
     
     ever got the chance. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The strange gentleman then went on, with very descriptive 
     
     and detailed directions as to where to go in Scotland, and 
     
     that Wallace’s sword was on display at an abbey in Scotland, 
     
     describing the sword almost as if it were his own. The 
     
     handle was about a foot long and there was a chunk missing 
     
     from the tip of the blade, but there was still at least five- 
     
     and-a-half feet of blade remaining well abovc the handle. 
     
    
   
   
    
     After a few more moments he mentioned to Ken that he 
     
     understood there was a Free Church of Scotland in the 
     
     area and he would like to See it, so Ken took him up to the 
     
     location. 
     
    
   
   
    
     As they were walking, he referred back t0 the French. He 
     
     said “l like to spend my summers where the gold is". 
     
     And Ken asked him where that might be, and he said it 
     
     was in Val d’Or in Québec, and that hc often stayed there 
     
     in the summer months - very much appreciatcd the 
     
     hospitality and the friendship he found among the very 
     
     fine people of the region. 
     
    
   
   
    
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