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Since the time of earliest settlement, the greatest unsolved challenge facing Montrealers has been what to do about winter. Winter has determined our culture and history probably more than any other natural or human factor. It's tough. It's not for sissies. Thus its necessary survival requirements have created many unique material and social inventions.

Val-David іs а unique village оf almost 5,000 inhabitants located іn the Laurentian Mountains аbоut 80km north оf Montreal, Quebec, Canada thаt attracts аbоut 100,000 tourists а year. Val-David іs predominantly Quebecer аnd has а sizable minority anglophone population.

--September 24, 2013.

Mount Royal: as mountains go, it's not very big – only 233 meters (764 feet) in height on the main summit, and a diminutive 211 meters ( 692 feet) on the Outremont peak and an even less 201 meters (659 feet) for the Westmount peak lookout.

Benjamin Cate Howard (1865-1923) was born with a deep and solid Eastern Townships’ heritage - his grandparents from his father’s side had been Irish immigrants arriving in the Townships in the early 1820s, and a set of great grandparents from his mother’s side had been part of the Marlow pioneers in Stanstead, arriving from New Hampshire circa 1800. As it was, Ben Howard was born the second son to a farming family on what was known as the Howard Farm, Apple Grove, which was an area just a few miles northwest from where the old Marlow Settlement had been located - present day, Marlington.

The Richmond County Historical Society (RCHS) was formed in 1962. As part of our 50th anniversary celebrations, we have presented some photos and information from the past.

While much has been made in the media about Montreal having its first English mayor in a hundred years . Mayor Michael Applebaum is not the only English-speaking person to serve as mayor of a majority Francophone city in Quebec over the last century. In South Shore St.

The Mills during the period of the French, British and Eastern Townships

On November 17,1907, construction started on Wakeham Hall , the building that was to become the focal point for the community of Wakeham for many years.

The Woods (Burt) Store was located at the corner of Route 243 and Cemetery Road in Melbourne, Quebec. In 1887 the Upper Melbourne Post office, with H. L. Burt as Postmaster, was one of sixteen Richmond subscribers of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada.

Click here for a podcast by Dwane Wilkin, produced in 2012 as part of QAHN's StoryNet initiative.

Sir Casimir Gzowski, great-grandfather of Canadian broadcaster Peter Gzowski, and engineer for the St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railway, forerunner to the Grand Trunk, built this trestle over the St. Francis River at the north end of Richmond in 1852. (Photo courtesy of the Richmond County Historical Society Archives)

John LeBoutillier, originally from the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel, became a very successful Gaspé merchant and political figure. He was originally employed by the Robin Company, important fish merchants, where he learned the skills of the cod fish trade.

As I entered the Fort Chambly, old ghosts of people seemed to appear. I see some putting cannonballs in cannons and then light the wick. The sound is awfully loud! A tour guide then tells me about the history of the Fort Chambly… Fort Chambly was fist built in 1665. There were 4 forts. The first one was in wood. It was unfortunately too old so, they needed to replace it. They replaced it by another one in wood. It then accidentally burnt. Because the wood fort couldn’t protect itself from cannonballs and other explosives, they replaced the wood fort by a stone fort.

I would like to write about my ancestor William Thomas. William was born in England in 1784 and joined the army. He was in the 81st Regiment of Foot. The regiment was called “the Loyal Lincoln Volunteers”. He was sent to Canada to fight the war in 1812 called the Napoleon wars. He was sent to Quebec City and took a boat all the way to Hull to protect Lower Canada against the Americans.

In the month of May, the apples blossom. In fall, the apples are ripe and ready to be picked. Apple growing has been a main industry for Frelighsburg since 1930, but apples have been grown in the area for a long time. Frelighsburg is a good place to grow apples because of the gentile hills, the soils, and the pattern of the winds will blow in the area. Farmers began to change their farms to apple orchards. Adelard Godbout, who was once the premier of Quebec, had an orchard in the Frelighsburg area.

George was born in Napierville, in the province of Quebec, on September 29, 1836. His father was of Irish descent, and he was a farmer and a mill owner. The early days of George’s life was spent on the family farm and in his father’s mill.

In the 1800s railways were needed in the Eastern Townships to get to raw materials, for fast travel, the growth of businesses, and to fill in the desire to build more railway lines. In the past most people didn’t have cars to travel with or trucks to carry materials. Railways met this need.

As we unravel local history and piece together the contributions of our forebears, we are often amazed at what we uncover.

Located in the very heart of the city of Gaspé lies an ancient burial ground -- the O`Hara Cemetery. No one knows for certain how many souls were interred in this place. What is certain is that for many years the site was neglected, left to grow up in brush and weeds.