Townships Heritage WebMagazine

A hundred and twenty years after it was built, and twenty-five years after it was by-passed, the covered bridge over the Fitch Bay Narrows is still standing.

Anyone interested in fine architecture and history will love Stanstead. Located on the American border just opposite Derby Line, Vermont, Stanstead was created in 1995 out of the former "Three Villages" of Stanstead Plain, Rock Island, and Beebe Plain.

THE THREE VILLAGES

In 1797, several years after the American Revolution, Loyalists Nathan Andrews and Caleb Tree arrived in Canada, and built a grain mill next to the Rivière des Brochets (Pike River). The little village of Stanbridge East was thus born, in the heart of a calm and quiet landscape.

Nestled between luscious green valleys on the banks of the Brochets River, close to Mount Pinacle and the American border, Frelighsburg is home to a particularly special architectural heritage as is reflected in the importance, originality and preservation of its buildings. Its proximity to the United States meant this village became a place where many cross-border immigrants would eventually settle.

The Eastern Townships' principal city is Sherbrooke. With a population of 150,000, it dominates the region. Sherbrooke is situated at the confluence of the St. Francis and Magog rivers. In Abenaki times, these two rivers were important navigable waterways for travelling through the region.

Selby Lake, in Dunham Township, in what is now the MRC of Brome-Missisquoi, was for many years the most popular spot for rowing, fishing, picnics and Sunday outings.

Rock Donda stands before us like a nut-brown maid, quietly holding herself aloof from the waters that have paid her homage all these years.

Many men, and women, too, have smothered sorrow and disappointment in the daily grind of a hustling, bustling life, either business or social, while others have turned their backs to the world and all it offered and found peace amid Nature's kindly offerings.

It is a noticeable fact that a man who makes the latter decision almost invariably goes to a lake-shore retreat. There he finds the solitude his wounded spirit craves and at the same time an allurement that tends to hold him to his decision...

Many a strange, weird happening which took place along the shores of the lake lying partly in Canada, partly in the United States, has been recorded, and among them is the story, or legend, of the barrel of rum.