Pierre Melanson and other Acadians who joined him in Grand-Pré built dykes there to hold back the tides along the Minas Basin. They made rich pastures for their animals and fertile fields for their crops. Grand-Pré became the bread basket of Acadia. It soon outgrew Port-Royal. By the mid-18th century, it was the largest of the numerous Acadian communities around the Bay of Fundy and the coastline of Nova Scotia (Latin for "New Scotland").