L'Isle-aux-Coudres
Municipality
Ferries at the river station dock, chemin de la Traverse, Saint-Bernard-sur-Mer, 2004
Ferries at the river station dock, chemin de la Traverse, Saint-Bernard-sur-Mer, 2004
Location within Charlevoix RCM
Location within Charlevoix RCM
L'Isle-aux-Coudres is located in Central Quebec
L'Isle-aux-Coudres
L'Isle-aux-Coudres
Location in central Quebec
Coordinates: 47°24′N 70°23′W / 47.400°N 70.383°W / 47.400; -70.383
Country Canada
Province Quebec
RegionCapitale-Nationale
RCMCharlevoix
Settled1728
ConstitutedAugust 23, 2000
Government
 • MayorDominic Tremblay
 • Federal ridingMontmorency—Charlevoix
—Haute-Côte-Nord
 • Prov. ridingCharlevoix–Côte-de-Beaupré
Area
 • Total97.10 km2 (37.49 sq mi)
 • Land30.16 km2 (11.64 sq mi)
Population
 (2016)
 • Total1,143
 • Density37.9/km2 (98/sq mi)
 • Pop 2011-2016
Decrease 10.6%
 • Dwellings
754
Time zoneUTC−5 (EST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
Postal code(s)
G0A 1X0
Area code(s)418 and 581
HighwaysNo major routes
Websitewww.municipaliteiac.ca

L'Isle-aux-Coudres, is a municipality located on island aux Coudres, in the St. Lawrence River, in Charlevoix Regional County Municipality, Capitale-Nationale region, Quebec, Canada.

Variations of the official name are: La Baleine, L'Île-aux-Coudres, Saint-Bernard-de-l'Île-aux-Coudres and Saint-Louis-de-l'Isle-aux-Coudres. Locally, the following variants are also noted: Île aux Coudriers, Île Elbow, Île aux Marsouins and Île aux Socles.

Access to the island are by sea (ferry) and air (airport).[1]'[2]' [3]'[4]

Geography

The island is about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) long and averages 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) in width. It is thought to have been formed from material lifted up by the impact of the meteor which formed the Charlevoix region. Local streams include the Rouge River and Mare Creek.

History

In canoes, made of birch bark or carved out of a tree trunk, First Nations have crisscrossed the St. Lawrence River from west to east, from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean and all the rivers of the Americas, from north to south, from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego, for millennia. Indigenous peoples knew the advantages, irritants, barriers and dangers of waterways long before the arrival of Europeans and Jacques Cartier (1491-1557).

On September 6, 1535, during his second voyage to North America, the navigator Jacques Cartier named the island "couldres", after a hazel tree, a shrub abundant in the area.

Botany: Hazelwood - Sew. — Corylus cornuta Marshall. — Noisetier à long bec. — (Beaked hazelnut). Our hazelnut tree has very flexible stems, which can be used as ties, and an astringent and feverish bark. Its wood was used by dowsers to discover underground water sources (a matter of debate).

In 1928, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada erected a monument commemorating the anchorage of Cartier's 3 ships and the celebration of the first mass in the interior of Canada, at Saint-Bernard-sur-Mer, on a site donated by Ulysses and Élie José Dufour.[5]' [6]' [7]

Whereas the modern French spelling for "island" is île, the municipality uses the old French spelling of Isle. Its population centres include La Baleine in the north-east, (Saint-Louis-de-)l'Isle-aux-Coudres in the south, and Saint-Bernard-sur-Mer in the north-west facing Baie-Saint-Paul. A free ferry service connects Saint-Bernard-sur-Mer to Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive on the north shore of the gulf.

Formerly, porpoise fishing was practiced on a broad basis, supplemented by some boat construction. Today tourism is the main industry, and the place is known for its historical sites, tourist accommodations, and craftspeople. On the beach near the ferry dock, there is a shipyard that is home to craftsmen who work according to ancestral techniques. The island is also a popular destination for cyclists.

It was the setting for the classic 1963 National Film Board of Canada documentary Pour la suite du monde.

Étienne de Lessart of Ste. Anne-de-Beaupré was granted title as the first Seigneur of l'Isle-aux-Coudres by Governor Buade de Frontenac on March 4, 1677. Due to a failure to develop the property to increase its value he was forced to sell the seigneurie on October 19, 1687 to the Séminaire de Québec who began to establish a monastery on the site.[8] On October 29, 1687, Governor Denonville and Intendant Champigny granted the island as a seignory to the Seminary of Quebec, an act that was ratified on March 1, 1688.[9]

In 1728, the first concessions of land were granted to settlers, and by 1741, the Parish of Saint-Louis-de-France was formed, soon after renamed to Saint-Louis-de-l'Isle-aux-Coudres. Named after Louis IX of France, it probably was also a tribute to Louis Chaumont (or Chaumonot) de La Jaunière (ca. 1700-1776), priest of Baie-Saint-Paul from 1736 to 1767. In 1845, the Parish Municipality of Saint-Louis-de-l'Isle-aux-Coudres was formed. In 1847, it was abolished, but reestablished in 1855, and would remain the only municipality covering the entire island for the next 80 years.

The community of Saint-Bernard-sur-Mer, first known as Pointe-des-Roches until 1936, only really developed from 1902 onward. The Parish of Saint-Bernard, named in honour of Bernard of Clairvaux (ca. 1090-1153), was officially founded in 1934 when it separated from the Parish of Saint-Louis, and was incorporated as the Municipality of Saint-Bernard-de-l'Île-aux-Coudres in 1936.

In 1951, the Municipality of La Baleine was incorporated, when it separated from Saint-Louis-de-l'Isle-aux-Coudres. It was named after an incident that had occurred in the late 18th century when the islanders found a carcass of a dead whale (in French: baleine) that had stranded on the island's flats. At this point, the island was divided into three municipal entities. [2]'

On January 5, 1994, the Municipality of Saint-Bernard-de-l'Île-aux-Coudres and the Parish Municipality of Saint-Louis-de-l'Isle-aux-Coudres were merged and formed the Municipality of L'Île-aux-Coudres (new spelling). On August 23, 2000, this municipality and the Municipality of La Baleine were merged again to form the new Municipality of L'Isle-aux-Coudres (old spelling).

Photos

. . . ad salty air, hair-raising winds, legendary hospitality set in 360° with spectacular landscapes, horizons changing with the tides, seasons, spectacular sunrises and sunsets[10]' [11]' [12]' [13]' [14]' [15]


Note: Built in 1971, the Pointe de la Prairie lighthouse-pilar, on L'Isle-aux-Coudres, is exposed to extremely severe environmental conditions: salt water, continuous freeze-thaw cycles, impact from ice flows, that have contributed over the years to severe deterioration of the concrete that makes up the base of the lighthouse.[16]

Demographics

Catholic Church, Saint-François-d'Assise Parish, chemin des Coudriers

Population trend:

  • Population in 2016: 1143 (2011 to 2016 population change: -10.6%)
  • Population in 2011: 1279 (2006 to 2011 population change: -1.3%)
  • Population in 2006: 1296
  • Population in 2001: 1319
  • Population in 1996:
    • L'Ile-aux-Coudres (municipality): 1066
    • La Baleine (municipality): 279
  • Population in 1991:
    • L'Ile-aux-Coudres (municipality): 1101
    • La Baleine (municipality): 282

Private dwellings occupied by usual residents: 551 (total dwellings: 754)

Mother tongue:

  • French as first language: 98.3%
  • English as first language: 0.9%
  • English and French as first language: 0.4%
  • Other as first language: 0.9%

See also

References

  1. ↑ "L'Isle-aux-Coudres (Municipalité)". Commission de toponymie Quebec (in French). Government of Quebec. 2000-11-09. Retrieved 2023-12-31. Variations of official name: La Baleine, L'Île-aux-Coudres, Saint-Bernard-de-l'Île-aux-Coudres and Saint-Louis-de-l'Isle-aux-Coudres. Locally, there are also the following variants: Île aux Coudriers, Île Elbow, Île aux Marsouins and Île aux Socles.
  2. 1 2 "Island aux Coudres". Commission de toponymie Quebec (in French). Government of Quebec. 1968-12-05. Retrieved 2023-12-31. It is because of the presence of couldres, the ancient name given to hazelnuts, that Cartier chose this name to designate the island
  3. ↑ "Île aux Coudres Airport" (in French). 2023-12-31. Retrieved 2023-12-31. Small airport whit one pist 17/35. pseudo-code OACI de CTA3
  4. ↑ "Ferry L'Isle-aux-Coudres – Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive". La Société des traversiers du Québec. 2023-12-31. Retrieved 2023-12-31. Schedule
  5. ↑ "Île-aux-Coudres National Historic Event". Saint-Bernard-sur-Mer, Île-aux-Coudres, Quebec: Parks Canada, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations. 1928. Retrieved 2024-01-07. On the 6th September, 1535, Jacques Cartier anchored his three ships near this place, explored the island, and named it Ile-aux-Coudres
  6. ↑ John J. Furlow (5 November 2020). "Corylus cornuta subsp. cornuta". Flora of North America. Retrieved 2024-01-04. Habitat: Moist to dry roadsides, edges of woods, fencerows, waste places, and thickets, or as understory in open woodlands
  7. ↑ The Ages of Exploration. "Jacques Cartier". The Mariners' Museum and ParK. Retrieved 2024-01-13. Jacques Cartier is credited with discovering and claiming the land now known as Canada for France.
  8. ↑ Lucien Gagné (1969). "Étienne de Lessard" (in French). Dictionnaire biographique du Canada. Retrieved 2024-01-08. pioneer of the Côte de Beaupré, seigneur of Île-aux-Coudres and co-seigneur of Lanoraie
  9. ↑ "Seigneurie de l'Île-aux-Coudres" (in French). Commission de toponymie du Québec. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
  10. ↑ "L'Isle-aux-Coudres Coastal Committee" (pdf) (in French). Pointe du Bout d'en Bas, L'Isle-aux-Coudres: Integrated Management Plan for the Coastal Zone of Isle-aux-Coudres - Comité ZIP du Sud-de-l'Estuaire. 2007. pp. 59 of 96. Retrieved 2024-01-08. Private land, on a natural site much frequented by locals and visitors.
  11. ↑ "L'Isle-aux-Coudres - So much to do & admire". Tourisme Isle-aux-Coudres. Retrieved 2024-01-05. 23 km of a road lined with wildflowers or frozen tidal flats. It's some 1400 "marsouins", friendly nickname given to its inhabitants,
  12. ↑ Monique Bellemare. "Moulin Desgagnés (L'Isle-aux-Coudres)". Quebec's Windmills, photos (in French). Retrieved 5 January 2024. Built with the parts of an old mill dating back to 1763. Restored in 1944, 1961 and 1993.
  13. ↑ Lorraine Guay (24 September 2022). "Marine Cemeteries of the St. Lawrence" (in French). Funerary and Commemorative Heritage Ecomuseum. Retrieved 2024-01-05. you have to deal with many elements: winds, currents, tides, fog, ice in the spring and rapids, not to mention the many obstacles to navigation such as the shoals and reefs near the islands.
  14. ↑ A Federal, Provincial and Territorial Collaboration. "St. Isidore's Processional Chapel" (in French and English). Canada's Historic Places. Retrieved 2024-01-05. The architecture of the processional chapels was inspired by that of the churches, but it adopted a simpler plan and a more uncluttered workmanship.
  15. ↑ "Navigation on the St. Lawrence An Echo of the Past, a Way Forward" (PDF) (in French). Transports Canada & Transports Québec. 2017-01-31. pp. 19 of 36. Retrieved 2024-01-07. Teams of ice canoes gather from Rimouski to Montreal, via L'Isle-aux-Coudres, Sorel, Portneuf and Quebec City, to compete to cross the river as quickly as possible
  16. ↑ "Rehabilitation of the Pointe de la Prairie Light House" (PDF). Canadian Coast Guard, QC. 2016-05-26. Retrieved 2024-01-04. This challenging shotcrete rehabilitation project was successfully completed on time despite the difficult weather conditions that disrupted shooting schedules
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