1. Billy Connor was the first person to accomplish which aquatic feat?
a) Diving to the bottom of Lake Massawippi
b) Kayaking the St. Francis River all the way from Sherbrooke to the St. Lawrence
c) Swimming the length of Lake Memphremagog
2. Who built Canada's first gasoline powered automobile?
a) Henry Seth Taylor
b) Frank Sleeper
c) George Foote Foss
1. c) William Francis (Billy) Connor was the first to swim Lake Memphremagog (or at least the 40 km stretch from Newport, Vermont to Magog, Quebec). He accomplished this feat in August of 1955 in 18.5 hours. Many people are familiar with the more recent "Traversée internationale du lac Memphrémagog," which has taken place every summer since 1979 between Newport and Magog.
2. c) George Foote Foss, of Sherbrooke, in 1897.
3. a) Reginald Fessenden, in 1900. (Guglielmo Marconi had sent the first wireless messages by Morse Code).
1) a; 2) b; 3) b; 4) a; 5) c; 6) b; 7) a; 8) a La Tribune (1910); Orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke (1939); Université de Sherbrooke (1954); 9) b; 10) b
1) What beverage did early Townships pioneers derive from one of their first crops?
a) Pumpkin schnapps
b) Carrot wine
c) Potato whisky
2) Up until well into the 1830s, Townshippers complained often for better services. One of their biggest gripes was that they could not get their produce to market. Why was that?
a) Roads were terrible or non-existent.
b) They had no horses to transport their goods, and what horses they did have were lame
c) The fares on the public bus system were too expensive
1. c) Potato whisky. According to early Townships historian Benjamin Hubbard, a bushel of potatoes yielded about a gallon (4.5 litres) of whisky. Said Hubbard: "In some cases, the whisky trade was profitable, but its general tendency was to exhaust the farms and blight the prospects of the early settlers."
2. a) The roads were terrible or non-existent.
3. b) The Temperance Movement. Prohibition was a later offshoot.
4. b) The Asbestos Strike of 1949, which was unprecedented in Quebec history for its level of union solidarity.
1. According to folklore, why were round barns round?
a) Because the darkened corners found in traditional barns were thought to harbour the devil
b) Because it was harder to clean the manure out of the corners found in traditional barns
c) Because children could avoid chores by hiding in the corners found in traditional barns
2. How did Owl's Head Mountain get its name?
1. a) The idea that round barns were built that way to prevent the devil from hiding in the corners has long been associated with the Shakers of New England. Round barns in the Townships, however, were built purely for practical reasons. Greater ease in feeding and cleaning the cattle, better light, and aerodynamics all played a part.
2. b) According to tradition, the mountain is named after Owl, a local Abenaki chief.
3. c) Memphré. Named after Lake Memphremagog, sightings of the legendary beast date back nearly two centuries.
1) What is the former name of Magog?
a) Cherry River
b) The Outlet
c) Magog Mills
2) Which of the following is Magog’s oldest house?
a) The Bowen House
b) The Merry House
c) The Moore House
3) The outlet of Lake Memphremagog, located in Magog, is which of these rivers?
a) Cherry River
b) Magog River
c) Tomifobia River
4) Who was the first mayor of the village of Magog?
a) Alvin Moore
b) Erasmus Smith
c) L. A. Audet
1) b); 2) b) The Merry House, recently acquired by the city, was built in 1821; 3) b); 4) a); 5) b); 6) a); 7) c); 8) c); 9) b) This church was built as the Union Church in 1830; 10) a) The Park House was built by Horace Park in 1865, and destroyed by fire in 1905.
1) Which of the following is NOT a borough of the City of Sherbrooke?
a) Fleurimont
b) Waterville
c) Rock Forest
2) In which Sherbrooke borough may be found Uplands Heritage and Cultural Centre?
a) Vieux Sherbrooke
b) Lennoxville
c) Brompton
3) Which of the following was a former name of Sherbrooke?
a) Little Forks
b) Little Hyatt
c) Hyatt’s Mills
4) After whom is Sherbrooke named?
a) Sir John Coape Sherbrooke
b) Lord Dufferin of Sherbrooke
c) Lord Sherbrooke of Dufferin