Little Brook - "Petit Ruisseau"

Little Brook or "P'tit Ruisseau" draws it name from a little brook...now almost having disappeared...which when I was young...flowed form a marsh and continued to the Baie.

During the French Revolution a young boy from Marseilles...aged about twelve was send by his mother to another continent in hopes of him escaping the tragic consequences of the revolution. This young lad eventually made his way to Clare. His name was Paul Lombard...the ancestor of all the Lombards of Clare and one of the "adoptive" Acadians of la Baie-Ste.-Marie.. My grandfather on my mother's side was Willie à Cyriac à David à Paul Lombard.

About midway on the main highway in P'tit Ruisseau is a long gradual incline...known as "la Butte des Paul...named after Paul Lombard's sons who settled here.


As one walks through the fields of time...
our ancestors from time past speak to us...


and if we listen we can hear their heartbeat which once was...


...the old farm fields slowly give themselves back to mother earth...


and the Baie...she waits patiently for our return...



Photo by Lloyd d'Entremont

...as the sun bids us good night over Baie Ste.-Marie...
from my home village of "P'tit Ruisseau"...