Eastern Townships And The Gaspe Peninsula (September/October 2026)

 

There's a very special area just outside of Montreal on the south side of the St. Lawrence River that opens up to a unique world anchored in a rich history, and offering all sorts of culinary experiences, outdoor activities, and spectacular scenery, and it's called the Eastern Townships (Cantons-de-lest). Always a popular summer and winter recreational area for Quebecers and Americans along the border states, it's been made even more famous most recently by the writer Louise Penny who makes it the setting of her Inspector Armand Gamache mystery novels. Settled in Protestant and Catholic waves of immigrants from Scotland, Ireland, and England, along with the French from nearby parishes, the result is a remarkably diverse population.

Originally inhabited by the Abenaki, an Algonquin speaking people that were part of the Wabanaki Confederacy, large portions of their land were given over to Loyalist families wanting a place to settle after fleeing the newly created United States. Unlike in Upper Canada (now called Ontario) where the British had signed over 30 formal land surrender treaties with the various First Nations, they treated Lower Canada (now called Quebec) like the French had before them and simply maintained a Seigneurial/Township system that ignored any need to negotiate mass land surrenders and simply assigned property to those wanting to settle in the area. That being said the entire Eastern Townships only occupies 12,500 sq. km out of Quebec's 1,500,000 sq. km total area.

A handy tourist brochure divided the area into 9 distinct regions and laid out a variety of ways to explore the area, based on preferred activities. After setting up base camp at our B & B in Sherbrooke, home to 175,000 people and the defacto capital of the region, we were off with our map in hand to check things out in some of the regions. While some come for the aquatic activities of the summer and others for the skiing and snow in winter we opted for the colourful experience of autumn and were richly rewarded. The reds and oranges of the maples and sumac, the bronze of the ash, the yellow and gold of the birch, and the golden bronze of the beech and other hardwoods mingled in with the evergreen spruce and fir made for a spectacular study in contrast and colour as we drove along the various highways. 

First stop was the magnificent Abbey Saint-Benoit-Du-Lac located on the shore of Lake Memphremagog in the heart of the Memphremagog region. The Benedictine monks living there produce a variety of famous Saint-Benoit cheeses along with cider from their own orchard, and it's all for sale inside the Abbey which welcomes visitors to tour the premises.

Nearby is the town of Magog, a charming town also on the shore of Lake Memphremagog boasting three microbreweries and a colourful main street filled with shops and coffee bars. Lake Memphremagog itself is 50 km long and extends across the U.S. border into Vermont but it's mostly in Quebec.

Wanting to get up close to all those pretty trees and their fall colours we headed over to the National Park of Mt. Orford where they had a gondola/chairlift running up to a series of belvederes (lookouts) that provided views to die for of all the surrounding area.

The Brome-Missisquoi Region wine route is a specialty area with over 25 vineyards set amongst various farms and boasting a corresponding selection of fine dining establishments to combine the gastronomic experience. It also features Lake Brome with all its aquatic attractions and numerous spa retreats.

Sherbrooke also has a local ski hill called Mt. Belleview that provides a nice viewing spot of the town and is accessible in the off season by both a chairlift and a series of hiking trails. But the real way to see Sherbrooke is by walking around the downtown core taking in some of the murals and exploring the various walking paths of the Magog River as it winds its way through the city. Being situated at the confluence of the Saint-Francois and Magog Rivers has provided Sherbrooke with an easily accessible source of hydro electric power and the city has constructed a pathway alongside the river and its dams for the public to use.

A little east of Sherbrooke is the Coaticook Region filled with farms, orchards, ice creameries, artisanal cheese makers, and a microbrasserie. It also has the famous Park-de-la-Gorge that boasts one of the longest suspension bridges in the world, a 169 metre long footbridge over the gorge and the picturesque village of North Hatley located on the edge of Lake Massawippi.

To say there are a lot of churches in Quebec would be an understatement and in every town, no matter how small, you can always find one, along with a nearby graveyard. They mark an era before the "Silent Revolution" a period of rapid social, political, and economic transformation in the 1960's where the government took over public welfare, schools, and hospitals from the Roman Catholic Church. Church attendance dropped from 85% to 4% and hundreds of historic churches closed and/or were demolished or repurposed. One of those was the Sainte-Therese in Sherbrooke which is now the OMG restaurant. The food wasn't necessarily heavenly but the atmosphere was sure unique.

Furtherest out from Sherbrooke is the Megantic Region, home to the Summit Drive, a stunning 200 km route that starts in Mount Ham Regional Park, goes through farmland and two National Parks while taking you to the foot of the tallest mountains in the area and finishing up at Lake Megantic. It's also the heart of the world's first dark sky reserve and features an ASTROLab and Observatory in Mount Megantic National Park. 

Lake Megantic was the unfortunate location of Canada's deadliest non-passenger train accident when, on July 6th, 2013, half the downtown area was destroyed and 47 people were killed after a freight train carrying crude oil derailed, caught fire, and exploded.

Even though there was still lots to explore in the Townships it was time to head off to the Gaspe Peninsula part of our road trip. On the way to the coastline we passed through the town of Theford Mines, known for years as the Asbestos Capital of the World. Asbestos had been in use for thousands of years as an fire resistant insulator but after it was discovered to be a class 1 carcinogen most countries made it illegal. The last mine was closed in 2012 before Canada in 2018 completely banned the use of asbestos in any form. As we came up to the town we could see the years of mine tailings that were hundreds of feet high and extending for miles around.

The drearyness of slag heaps and mine tailings is quickly replaced by picturesque farmland alongside the tranquil looking St. Lawrence River as the road pops out of the interior and joins the south shore highway. The farms are laid out in the traditional long lots system which gives each farm direct access to the waterway. The north shore of the river and Quebec City is only a few km in the distance but about to get even further apart as the river widens. Connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean the St. Lawrence flows in a northeasterly direction for 1,200 km from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and it widens from 5 km to 300 km at its maximum breadth.

By the time we got to Rimouski the river had widened to 50 km and we came across the Pointe-au-Pere Lighthouse and the historic maritime park that houses the HMCS Onondaga, a decommissioned submarine built in the 1960's and still in use with the Canadian Navy until the year 2000. In spite of being 295 feet long and 26 feet wide it is a very cramped and claustrophobic environment and hard to believe it held a crew of up to 70. Nonetheless it made for a very impressive museum display vessel.

Also part of the park is the of Empress of Ireland Museum which displays artifacts from the shipwreck that sank just offshore in 40 metres of water on May 29th, 1914. Built in 1906 the Empress of Ireland and her sister ship the Empress of Britain were part of the Canadian Pacific Steamship fleet carrying trans-Atlantic passengers between Canada and the U.K. After colliding in dense fog with a coal freighter that pierced its starboard side, the ship sank in 14 minutes killing 1012 of the 1477 passengers. In comparison to the Titanic which lost 1500 of its 2224 passengers on April 15th, 1912 the Empress of Ireland had updated safety features and more than enough lifeboats for everyone but, because it sank so fast (compared to 3 hours for the Titanic) the boats couldn't be deployed in time. It is the worst maritime disaster in Canadian history.

Said goodbye to Rimouski and headed off to see the Gaspe Peninsula. Starting from St. Flave the coastal loop road is 900 km. but we were aiming for the halfway point at Perce. There were a lot of colourful small towns to pass through and without a high speed road it was going to be a more leisurely drive. The scenery of course was stunning with the river on the left, the forest in all its stunning colours, and all the lighthouses on the right including Cap-des-Rosiers at 34 metres the tallest in Canada.

Then suddenly we came around a corner and stared down the hill to the entrance to Perce with its signature rock sitting out in the bay waiting for its picture to be taken. It sports one of the world's largest natural arches in the water and, along with the nearby Bonaventure Island, is a bird sanctuary for hundreds of species including the northern gannet who nest there in the thousands.

As we continued on to the New Brunswick border we couldn't help but take pictures of the uniquely styled houses in their bright colours and immaculately maintained lawns. But it was a long way still to go and, after all the speeding up and slowing down as we passed through the last of the Gaspe towns, we finally crossed the Interprovincial Bridge at Matapedia and got onto a freeway that went all the way to Fredericton.

We arrived in Fredericton right at check-in time and headed off across the converted railway bridge, known as the Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge, over the St. John River to the lively Picaroons Roundhouse and Brew Pub. It was a perfect introduction to what would turn out to be a very accessible city that really caters to pedestrians and cyclists.

The Riverfront Trail is one of the principal routes into the downtown core and passes by Christ Church Cathedral, the Fredericton Lighthouse and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. Even though Fredericton is the capital city of New Brunswick it only has a population of 79,000 so the various government buildings and attractions in the historic Garrison District are in a very compact space.

There is a lot of history in New Brunswick which, in 1784 became a separate colony from Nova Scotia and Fredericton was made the capital. Many of its Victorian style homes have now been converted to charming B&B's. Ours was a striking example and besides its great looks it also featured delicious blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Fredericton also hosts two universities and features over 120 km of multi-use trails to help work off a good meal and it also has a good stock of coffee shops.

Moving on from Frederickton it was back on a highway made too beautiful for words by all the trees turning colour as far as the eye could see and loosely following the St. John River which closely parallels the U.S. border that wasn't officially established with Canada until 1842. The highway ended just past the Quebec border at the picturesquely situated town of Riviere-du-Loup where the river meets the south shore of the St. Lawrence only 25 km from the other side.

Riviere-du-Loup is a surprisingly cosmopolitan town with a busy main street on one side of its namesake river filled with boutique shops and restaurants and on the other side, connected by a pedestrian bridge, an urban nature park with 9 km of trails and a 33 metre waterfall.  

Said goodbye to sweet Riviere-du-Loup and made our way back to Montreal where we spent a pleasant afternoon waiting for our flight home walking along the Lachine Canal National Park and enjoying the antics of the well behaved students of the College St. Anne as they learned to paddle a canoe or simply enjoyed being out and about on a lovely day. Our journey through the Townships and Gaspe (with a detour to Fredericton) had been a charming slice of Quebec and a beautiful autumn interlude. Capping things off with a latte at the local cafe was a fitting end.