Montebello, Quebec

2,736 miles

imperial overreach: La Nouvelle France
(Atlantic Ocean named Canadian Ocean)

Sept 26 – In several ways, Montebello reflects much of the history of Quebec.  European land rights in this region of New France were first granted in 1627 by the King of France.  This seems utterly absurd from our perspective today, since the area was already inhabited by Algonquins and neither the French king nor his lords had any relationship to this land.  But in Europe monarchs ruled by claiming a divine right from God, and French missionaries had already established relations with some tribes of First Peoples and claimed to have converted them to Catholicism.

typical land grant layout

In 1627, Cardinal Richelieu, King Louis XIII's chief minister, granted the newly-formed Company of New France all lands between the Arctic Circle to the north, Florida to the south, Lake Superior in the west, and the Atlantic Ocean in the east.  In exchange for this vast land grant and the exclusive trading rights tied to it, the Company was expected to bring two to three hundred settlers to New France in 1628, and a subsequent four thousand during the next fifteen years. To achieve this, the Company sub-granted almost all of the land awarded to it.  The “seigneurial” land grant system of New France was the semi-feudal system of land tenure used in the North American French colonial empire.  Seigneurs (“Lords”) were allotted land holdings and presided over the French colonial agricultural system in North America. 

Papineau family chapel

In 1674, François de Laval, the first Archbishop of Quebec, purchased vast property around Montebello, known as the Seigneury de la Petite Nation, from the French East India Company.  The Quebec Seminary inherited it from Laval. Agricultural settlement of this area began in 1801, when the land of the Petite Nation Seigneury was purchased by Joseph Papineau, a former anti-British rebel in Lower Canada, who operated a lumber mill at this site.  Papineau’s son, Louis-Joseph, inherited this Seigneury property and gave the name "Monte-Bello" to this location in 1854 as a tribute to Napoleon-Auguste Lannes, Duke of Montebello, a French diplomat and foreign minister, with whom he had become acquainted in France.  

Manoir Papineau

Starting in 1846, Louis-Joseph built a turreted stone mansion in beautiful French style, named Manoir Papineau.  After the seigneury feudal system was abolished, the Papineau seigneury was sold off and became the Seigneury Club.  The grand house was later designated a National Historic Site of Canada, and now functions as a museum which is open in the summer.

Château Montebello

This village of about 1,000 people is also famous for the Château Montebello resort, the largest log structure ever built. In the late 1920s, Harold M. Saddlemire, a Swiss-American entrepreneur, acquired the site that was formerly part of the Seigneury de la Petite Nation, situated on one of the last surviving land grants made by 17th-century French kings to early settlers of what was then La Nouvelle France.  Saddlemire envisioned a private wilderness retreat for business and political leaders.  He initially called this project "Lucerne-in-Quebec;" but it came to be known as the Anglicized “Seigniory Club”.  

impressive stone fireplace in hotel lobby

Despite the 1929 stock market crash, work on the planned wilderness retreat began as planned in early 1930.  The economic uncertainty did not delay the project, as it did so many others, due perhaps to the fact that the presidents of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the National Bank of Canada, the Bank of Montreal, and the Royal Bank of Canada, and the Premier of Quebec, were all club directors.  A special spur from the nearby CPR line had to be built to allow for the transport of red cedar logs and other supplies to the site. The log construction in a Scandinavian style was supervised by Finnish master-builder, Victor Nymark and construction manager Harold Landry Furst.  

Le restaurant Aux Chantignoles

The club was only open to an elite membership for its first 40 years of operation.  Among the members during this period were: former Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco.  Edward, the playboy Prince of Wales, heir to the British throne, visited the resort.  After he became King Edward VIII, then abdicated his throne to marry Wallis Simpson and become the Duke of Windsor, he visited the Seigneury Club again.  The resort has been the host for the NATO Nuclear Planning Group, a G7 Economic Summit, and a Trilateral summit conference (Mexico, US, Canada). 

luxury dining with a winter view

Château Montebello is a National Historic Site of Canada, set within a forested wildlife sanctuary with numerous lakes, but it now operates as a private hotel.  Its ownership has passed through the hands of the Canadian Pacific Railway, a Saudi prince, an employee retirement system, and a major Chinese real estate group.

Footpaths are laid out through the surrounding wildlife sanctuary, and to my amazement I discovered that they are accessible via Google Street Views!  Since Google has mapped most of North America using camera-laden cars on public roads, how was this maze of footpaths filmed?  Cameras on bikes?  On golf carts?  I’m grateful for this enhanced access, but I wonder why this little bit of strolling territory (complete with “Poison Ivy” signs!) was given this privilege.

Amnesia Rockfest

Since 2005, Montebello also hosts the Amnesia Rockfest at the edge of the Ottawa River.  It has become Canada's largest rock festival. 

Restaurant Le Napoleon

The main street of Montebello, along the edge of the resort property, is full of boutiques and bed-&-breakfast inns for tourists, built in charming French architectural styles.

info:  Wikipedia.com

Montebello:  http://www.montebello.ca/

Château Montebello:  http://www.coupsdecoeurpourlemonde.com/2014/07/le-chateau-montebello-canada-bois-rond/

images:  Google.com