The first settlers arrived in the area during the acadian deportation years but didn't settle down permanently until the end of the 1760s.
Without a natural port to harbour heavy vessels it was mostly the marshes that attracted the settlers. Every one knows that the acadians were well at home in marshlands. The absence of a natural port capable of harbouring heavy ships affected the areas early economic development.
The acadians knew how to rinse the salt out of the marshes. Creating land from the marshes using the "aboiteau" technique was easier than cutting trees in the forest. In the Cap-Pelé area the dunes act as natural dykes. Once the marshes were dried and rinsed they became fields capable of feeding herds. The " aboiteau " played an important role in this area. However, the marshes cover a limited area and soon settlers had to cut down trees to create land. Near the coast the ground is sandy and it didn't take long that the settlers moved more inland where the ground was more fertile. The sandy land did drain well and crops could be planted earlier but the area was more sensitive to dry weather.
Régis Brun and Ronnie-Gilles LeBlanc have written an excellent book on the Cap-Pelé history. The title of the 467 page book is :
Histoire de Cap-Pelé 1804-2004
Le passé d'une communauté dynamique en Acadie.
ISBN:2-9808884-0-0
The Cap-Pelé area has been inhabited by indians for thousands of years. Most of the older settlements have now been claimed by the sea. Words like Tidiche and Shemogue come from the Micmac language. Shemogue (Chimougoui) means forked river in Micmac.
It is very probable that the Cap-Pelé region was once called "Cap Hareng" which could be translated to Herring Cape. To this day herring plays a major role in the regions economy and landscape. Around 1840 the village is documented as Cape Bald.
The 1851 census recorded 1283 acadians living in the Cap-Pelé region.
Placide Gaudet (1850-1930), originally from the parish of Cap-Pelé was one of the first genealogist and historian of this region. He wrote a history of the Acadians and more than 200 other works.