Transportation

Les premiers pionniers ne trouvèrent aucune route. Ils furent plutôt confrontés à des forêts vierges. Pour se frayer un chemin, ils durent abattre des arbres, traverser des marais ou patauger dans des cours d'eau.

The first settlers found no roads. They came to a land of virgin forest. They had to blaze their own trails, and find their way around swamps and over streams. They travelled in winter from New England, because snowshoes and a laden sled required a narrower path than an ox cart, and because they could save time by travelling over frozen lakes and rivers.

The major lakes and rivers provided the only way to travel in the Eastern Townships before the area was opened for settlement. The two major lakes were Champlain and Memphremagog. Both stretched on either side of the international border, partly in Canada and partly in the United States.

The early routes travelled by the Abenaki Indians of the Eastern Townships included the big lakes, like Memphremagog, Champlain, and Massawippi, and rivers, such as the St. Francis and the Missisquoi. The Abenakis used birch bark canoes as well as dugout canoes made from single logs.

Like most kids, when I was growing up, I enjoyed reading Peanuts, especially the adventures of Snoopy and the Red Baron, which were based on the German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen and his World War I exploits. It's funny how something from your childhood you had forgotten can suddenly come back to life.

La navigation de plaisance s'est avérée un passe-temps estival populaire depuis des générations. Les Victoriens et Edwardiens étaient particulièrement entichés de leurs bateaux. Skiffs, bateaux de plaisance, bateaux à vapeur et yachts de toutes dimensions affichaient les symboles estivaux de richesse et de statut.

Today, former railway beds in many parts of the Eastern Townships are being converted to a new use: cycling and walking trails. The rails to trails movement has created a whole new natural, tourist, and recreational attraction in the region.

There are twenty-one authentic covered bridges remaining in the Eastern Townships. To that total may be added two semi-authentic recreations of recent vintage. A century ago, there were hundreds of covered bridges all across the region. Most villages had at least one; some had several. They dotted the back roads as well, crossing brooks and rivers of all sizes.