Gaspé

Continued from Part 1.

A few kilometres south of the Jean-Chassé Bridge, still on Route 195, is the village of Saint-René-de-Matane. Here we find a 52-metre, 2-span bridge in the heart of the village.

At one time, there were covered bridges all over the Gaspé peninsula. Today, only a few of these historic spans remain. Most have fallen victim to demolition in the name of progress, vandalism or the elements, some within the last few years.

In July 1760, a decisive battle was fought on the Restigouche River estuary at the western end of the Baie des Chaleurs. That battle, called the Battle of the Restigouche, would decide the fate not just of the sailors and soldiers involved but that of New France itself.

The Cascapedia River Museum is a vital part of the little community of Cascapedia-St. Jules, on the Gaspé Coast of Quebec. It represents the life surrounding the Cascapedia River and is a reflection of the pride that not only belongs to the world-famous river, but also to the people who worked and lived beside it all their lives. Cascapedia-St.

Bonaventure Island is, without a doubt, one of the gems of the Gaspé Penninsula. The island, which is a little over four square kilometres in area, and which lies off the Gaspé coast about five kilometres from the town of Percé, within sight of Percé Rock, was first sighted by Jacques Cartier in 1534.

Billed as "the world's most travelled lighthouse," due to the fact that it spent twenty years in the Port of Quebec, the Pointe-à-la-Renommée Lighthouse is by far one of the most spectacular maritime sites on the north Gaspé coast.

River and sea run together in the broad waters of the Lower St. Lawrence. Though fields first cleared by French farmers 250 years ago still ripen in rolling strips of green between historic towns and villages, a number of these settlements also have Anglophone roots, some dating to the close of the Seven Years’ War.

The cod banks of the Gaspé coast were crowded waters on the fringe of an unknown land.

New Carlisle was settled by the United Empire Loyalists in 1784. Fleeing the United States after the War of Independence, these early settlers preferred the hardships of forging a new home in a new land rather than separation from British rule.

In the flash of cannon and musket fire the waters of the Restigouche River were made a blazing stage for a fateful battle.

The tide of war had turned in Britain’s favour in the summer of 1760. French forces, beaten at Quebec City, desperately awaited reinforcements. All hope lay with a small convoy of supply ships, now waylaid in the Restigouche basin.