The Micmac, a group of , came to the Mari- times from about 2000 years ago and were observed summering on the Island (which they named Abegweit) by visiting French fishermen, missionaries and explorers. Sheltered bays on the North Shore such as Rustico , Tracadie and Savage Harbour were favourite campsites. Local tradition says there was an Indian burial ground at the "Point" (in Stanhope ) as well as at Point Deroche . Parks Canada , as mentioned above, had an archaeological dig on Rustico Island in the summers of 1980 and 1981; artifacts turned up, and kitchen middens investigated, suggest that Micmac may have wintered here as well as visited here in the summers. More recently, old-timers recall Indians camping on the Shore in the summer, selling baskets door to door, and being given meals by old-timers' mothers. See the MacAulay family history for an Indian anecdote. The French Regime On He St. Jean the French Regime lasted from 1720, when the first permanent settlement by French and Acadian colonists occurred, until their deportation in 1758 by Lord Rollo under orders from General Amherst . Early censuses (1728 and 1740) make no mention of settle?? ment at Stanhope , but the 1752 census of Sieur de la Roque lists two families, fifteen persons in all, at "Etang des Berges", as present-day Stanhope was then known. 1. Jacques Boudrot , fisherman and farmer, age 33, native of He Royale; Marguerite Chaisson , his wife, age 25; Marie Boudrot , their daughter, age 2. They possess 2 cows, 1 ox, 1 heifer, 3 pigs, 3 hens, and a fishing boat. 2. Jacques Chaisson , fisherman and farmer; age 60; Marie Arsenault, his wife; they have 7 sons and 2 daughters; Pierre, 27; Paul, 25; Jacques, 23; Michel, 21; Joseph, 15; Jean, 13; Armand, 7; Madeleine, 18; Elizabeth, 14; and Marie - Joseph Hebert , 6, from Acadia. They have 9 cows, 10 oxen, 7 calves, 1 mare, 9pigs, 15 hens. "Etang des Berges", in English, is now known as , in the . It is a barrier beach pond, formed by drifting sand blocking the outlet to the sea of a small glacial valley. Two cellar depressions close to and apparently not con?? nected with various later farm divisions may have been the location of the Boudrot and Chaisson homes; the census states that the Boudrots ... hold their land situated on the edge of the pond... Another possible site is near the head of , but it is much more probable that these depressions are the sites of later houses which were moved to positions nearer the road. Local tradition has it that there were 6