Outaouais Heritage WebMagazine

No Longer Worth a Thousand Words – Our Pictures Not So Perfect

The young boy was standing in front of a small wooden table on which laid a birthday cake with four lit candles. You could see the gleam in the little guy’s face, and his underlying smile of knowing that this was his day to be celebrated, and his day alone. Dressed in a clean white shirt, dark slacks, and a clip-on bow tie, we could sense what he was thinking as he continued his bright-eyed stare into the candles. We could almost feel his wonder at what other miracles life would bring, and that this birthday was certainly one of them.

Lower Gatineau Heritage Trail

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The Gatineau River was a wilderness thoroughfare through unbroken Laurentian forest.

Before loggers and farmers cleared its banks, the 275-kilometre long waterway served Algonquin hunters as their main route to the game-rich hinterlands. The river was a link in a vast First Nations trade system joining Huron and Nipissing people in the Great Lakes with Montagnais Innu near Lac Saint-Jean.

Outaouais-Pontiac Heritage Trail

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The Outaouais-Pontiac Heritage Trail leads to pioneer settlements and historic sites on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River, from Aylmer to Fort Coulonge.

AYLMER TO L’ISLE-AUX-ALLUMETTES: A SCENIC ROUTE UP THE OTTAWA VALLEY, PART 1

There are many sights to be seen along the road from Aylmer to L’Isle-aux-Allumettes, particularly if the traveller is willing to depart from the main road (Highway 148) from time to time. Drivers should allow for two to three hours in each direction, and more depending on how many stops are anticipated.

AYLMER TO L’ISLE-AUX-ALLUMETTES: A SCENIC ROUTE UP THE OTTAWA VALLEY, PART 2

(Continued from Part 1)

Back on the 148, we continue for about two kilometres, then turn south again onto Highway 303, towards Portage-du-Fort. We are now in Clarendon township, and the scenery is lovely, rolling farmland. On the way to Portage-du-Fort, we pass through the hamlet of Stark’s Corners.

AYLMER TO L’ISLE-AUX-ALLUMETTES: A SCENIC ROUTE UP THE OTTAWA VALLEY, PART 3

(Continued from Part 2)

Returning to the 148, continue towards Campbell’s Bay, which, again, is just off the highway. Settled by loggers and farmers, Campbell’s Bay is the county seat. It has an imposing courthouse (1917), which is open to visitors on weekdays.

Chutes Coulonge : parc historique

Les draveurs font partie de ces héros anonymes qui contribuèrent largement au développement de l’industrie forestière par leur générosité et par les innombrables sacrifices exigés par ce travail presque inhumain.

Fairbairn House Heritage Centre: Witness to the Story of the Gatineau Valley and the Hills Beyond

From the earliest times, nomadic Algonquin families canoed the Gatineau River, and in the 17th century fur traders arrived to do business with the Indigenous hunters. More permanent settlements began with the logging boom in the early 1800s, bringing both employment and development, and soon immigrant families moved in to take up land grants offered by the government.

Photo Gallery:

Gatineau Park: Gem of the Capital Region

Gatineau Park, one of eastern Canada’s premier natural heritage sites, is located at the edge of the Canadian Shield, a stone’s throw from the nation’s capital.

The Pontiac MRC: A Regional Cultural Portrait

The historical development of the Outaouais has often found its origin in the Pontiac. It is within the Pontiac where the oldest traces of human artefacts were discovered, shortly after the retreat of the Champlain Sea. Archaeological discoveries found on Morrison Island revealed that the river in the Pontiac had become “the copper route”, starting from the Great Lakes and leading up to Eastern Quebec.

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