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Three
Rivers
T he Cardigan, the Brudenell,
the Valleyfield-Montague. In a nation
awash with wild, superlative waterways,
these three peaceful rivers, measuring
just 72.4 kilometres in combined length,
are mere countryside wisps. But on
compact
Prince Edward Island, Canada’
smallest province, the Three Rivers
merit an historical, cultural, recreational
and economic status that far outweighs
their diminutive size. It was here,
in the 1732 wilderness of Brudenell
Point that the obstinate, ambitious
French entrepreneur Jean Pierre Roma
built one of the Island’s
first European settlements. It was
from
spacious,
sheltered Cardigan Bay, that over 400
barques and schooners were launched
from the shipyards of Montague and
Georgetown. And it was throughout
the hills and
harbours of Three Rivers valleys that
hardworking 19th century Scottish,
Irish
and English settlers built their homes
and laid the agricultural and commercial
foundations of Prince Edward Island’s
economy. The Three Rivers are tidal
waterways, with all of the ecological
variety and aquatic richness that
results
from the blending of freshwater streams
and saltwater seas. Along inland riverbanks,
sports fishers angle for Atlantic salmon,
and birdwatchers seek out woodland
warblers,
while in the harbour, seals sun themselves
on rocky shores and Piping Plovers
skitter
nervously along white sand beaches.
The bounty of the land – row
upon row of famous Prince Edward
Island potatoes
– is never far from the bounty
of the sea. And now, in between the
farmland and the ocean, the estuaries
of the Cardigan, the Brudenell and
the
Valleyfield-Montague offer up a brand
new Prince Edward Island specialty:
plump, delectable “Island Blues”,
product of the area’s thriving
mussel farms. |
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