Québec city is having its 400th anniversary this year. In the year 1608, Samuel de Champlain set foot in the new world and founded a small colony on the shores of the St. Lawrence river under the towering cliffs of "le Cap Diamant". All of French Canada comes from that small step. At its height New France stretched from the shores of Hudson's Bay to the delta of the Mississippi. Voyageurs and explorers pushed ever farther into the unknown seeking new lands and people to trade furs with. (Greed is a powerful motivator isn't it) My family has been here since 1650 and we are all descended from one adventuresome man, who left everything in France and crossed the Atlantic to come and start afresh in the New World.Have you ever wondered what it must have been like for our ancestors to leave everything and everyone they knew and loved to come to a new land where there was nothing, no roads, no cities, no European style civilization. It must have taken a lot of intestinal fortitude, because chances where that you would never see your homeland again.
Last weekend we went to Québec to visit my mom and my sister. It's funny because every time I go there I have a feeling that I'm home, even though I have lived else where for the last 24 years. Having been an airforce brat when I was young I never really had any roots, but when I arrived in Québec city, it struck me that this place was were my roots were, this was home. It may sound strange but it was a visceral feeling, way down deep and it was he first time that I felt that I really belonged somewhere. During the weekend we went wandering around the old part of town and I took some photos. So here is the city of my ancestors.
The Chateau Frontenac was built atop of the original governors residence, the Chateau St-Louis. The ruins are still under the boardwalk of the Terrace Dufferin.
The Old Post Office: There is an interesting story connected to this building. According to legend there was a feud between two families that lead to love and death. (a bit like Romeo and Juliet) The Chien d'Or was put up by the aggrieved family to remind the other clan that one day revenge would come. When this post office was put up, they incorporated the "Chien d'Or" from the original building.
Old Québec as seen from the Citadelle.
There were at least four gates to Old Québec, two of them have been destroyed but two remain, this one, Porte St-Louis and the other is Porte St-Jean a little lower down. Québec is one of the only cities in North America that still has its city walls intact.
9 comments:
I love those pictures! The only ancestor that "came over" that I know the story of is Mom's grandfather. He was a German teen and was "being sponsored" by some family in North Carolina to come and work for them to pay for his passage. That was basically a trick of slavery. But he came and he worked and he married a local girl and now I exist. I think the rest of my family were probably sent on the prisoner boats from England and Ireland during the 1700's. But I'm a cynic and I'm just guessing.
Funny isn't it how two people from the same family can perceive the same place completely differently...
I feel no roots there, I actually don't even like the place. It's ok to visit as a tourist, but I wouldn't want to live there ever again. If mom and JazzSis weren't there, I'd be quite content to never set foot in Quebec again.
I hear ya brother. I'm a Canadian military brat as well and can trace my lineage back past Julien Fortin Dit Bellefontaine, I'm a direct descendant of his. I haven't been to Quebec city since I was a kid but it's a special place.
Love your pics.
I haven't been to Quebec City in many years but I've always loved the feel of the city - even in winter!
Am hoping to get there sometime this summer.
Geewits: Lets face it, the people who exiled themselves to the new world often had good reason to. They were usually adventurers, who felt constricted by their society.
Lil' Sister: well it's cuz you love the night life, and also cuz Mr. Jazz isn't from there. ;o)
Larry: well what do you know, another of our numerous cousins, did you know that Madonna is also one of the family?
Violet: Yes it is a beautiful place, even in winter. I remember one Christmas eve, walking back to our hotel in old Québec and looking up and seeing the Seminary steeple, illuminated, all silver, through the softly falling snowflakes...a thing of beauty.
Quebec is high on my list of places I want to visit. ANd not even all that far away, really.
400 years? That's fantastic!
Dude, when's school out so you start posting again?
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