An open house was held Sunday from 12:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. at the Chezzetcook Inlet Acadian Centre, which will open soon in West Chezzetcook, N.S.
“We want the community to see that we are giving a second life to this centre, and we are bringing it back to the community so everyone can share it together,” says Rebecca Potvin, Executive Director of L’Acadie De Chezzetcook.
The centre will be in the former St. Anselm’s Roman Catholic Church. The church was built in 1814 and closed its doors in November 2018.
“When the church closed it was the question of what is going to happen with the building so essentially this has been in the works for about the last three years,” says Cameron DeBaie, president of L’Acadie De Chezzetcook. She said the new project began so the community could keep its history and heritage.
The new centre will hold large events and conferences that currently aren’t possible in the community. DeBaie said it will have a robust sound system but remain a cultural centre that highlights Acadian heritage and shared history with the Mi’kmaq first nation.
“It’s really a place that’s about allowing as many visitors to Nova Scotia to experience what it’s like to be in West Chezzetcook,” DeBaie said. “It’s such a tight knit community full of so many traditions that go back really to the 1700’s. To allow some of the artifacts to be on display, allowing different communities to discover us and also to put West Chezzetcook on the map as a real legitimate Acadian community.”
The goal during the renovation is to preserve as much of the church as possible.
“We reused as much of the oldest bricks as possible and painstakingly matched all the other bricks so it would be flawless,” says DeBaie.
Vallerie Bellefontaine is a director at L’Acadie De Chezzetcook. She says West Chezzetcook is the only Acadian community in the Halifax Regional Municipality and important for the preservation of local history.
“I know from growing up here that we lost our language,” Bellefontaine said. “It wasn’t encouraged for one thing to speak French, and you were so close to the city it was really important actually for people to actually be able to speak English and be able to converse that way.”
The exterior of the new centre is almost complete. The scaffolding is expected to come down in two to three weeks then the team moves on to the interior.
Vernon Bellefontaine is a general contractor working on the restoration of the building. He says they had to do a lot of repair work on the brick.
“We started doing the work on the steeple area and the brick because there was a lot of leaking. And we brought in a construction engineer and an architect, and we dealt with the repair of the steeple and the brick,” says Bellefontaine.
Community members Wayne and Joan Wolfe said seeing the building restored and artifacts stay in the church makes them smile.
“My dad did the glass cutting and that’s how I remember so much about it and I am so glad they are keeping it the way it is because it means so much to me,” says Wayne.
Shirley and Don Bellefontaine got married 63 years ago in St. Anselm’s. They said they are sad it’s no longer their church but grateful the building remains.
“I guess the church means a lot to us personally,” says Shirley. “We are excited because at least we will get to keep some of the heritage here.”
The new centre is schedule to open to the public by December 2025.
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