(Rivière-Ouelle) In August 2021, the Quebec government designated Rivière-Ouelle a heritage cultural landscape. The Press went there to understand why this small village in Bas-Saint-Laurent was the first, and still the only one, to receive such a distinction.
Posted at 11:30 a.m.
Rivière-Ouelle is a village of barely 1,000 souls dominated by farmland, which this year celebrated its 350e anniversary. If the heart of the municipality is crossed by road 132, to discover the most beautiful point of view, it is necessary to take a country road which leads to what the people here call “the point”.
Hidden below behind the rocky ridges that isolate the area is a magnificent panorama. To get there, take the steep and winding coast of Route du Quai, which ends on Chemin de l’Anse des Mercier, bordering the coast of the St. Lawrence.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
View of Pointe-aux-Iroquois and Anse des Mercier, from Pointe-aux-Orignaux
It is right there, on this piece of land between Pointe-aux-Orignaux and Pointe-aux-Iroquois, that you will find the first heritage cultural landscape in Quebec.
Area of the designated territory: 1,161,830 m2
This territory would be unique for various reasons. First, there is this protrusion of land which offers an open and quite spectacular view of the river estuary.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Louis-Georges Simard, Mayor of Rivière-Ouelle
People who come here fall in love with this landscape.
Louis-Georges Simard, Mayor of Rivière-Ouelle, himself a resident of the area
La Pointe-aux-Originals is also the closest place to the north shore of the estuary, after Quebec, which has strongly colored the history of the village. As early as 1840, a deep-water wharf was located at Pointe-aux-Orignaux, used to export local goods. A ferry service and rail access were later added.
PHOTO GHISLAIN LÉVESQUE, PROVIDED BY THE PHOTOGRAPHER
The Rivière-Ouelle wharf and Pointe-aux-Orignaux, as the crow flies
Thanks to all this, the place became a recognized vacation spot at the beginning of the 20th century.e century – Father Maurice Proulx, pioneer of documentary cinema in Quebec, had established his quarters there. While vacationing remains the sector’s main vocation, more and more people are settling there year-round, a phenomenon no doubt accentuated by the pandemic and the development of Boisé de l’Anse, with its 40 new sites in the middle of forest. According to the municipality, some forty new permanent residents have been added over the past year.
A unique ancestral know-how
This particular geographical location also explains the significant presence of eels at Pointe-aux-Orignaux. They have been fished in the area for centuries. Even today, Rivière-Ouelle is a beacon of this practice in Quebec, transmitted from generation to generation in a few founding families of the village.
Among them, the Hudon family, who have been fishing since 1769 at Pointe-aux-Orignaux.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Rémi Hudon, eel fisherman and agricultural producer, at Pointe-aux-Orignaux
We’ve been fishing eel here for 253 years this year! Until 1864, the whole point belonged to us, even the Quai road.
Rémi Hudon, eel fisherman, ninth generation of Hudon to perpetuate this know-how
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PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Each year, stakes, poles, nets and three boxes forming a funnel, used to catch eels, must be reinstalled.
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PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
You must first plant the stakes in the mud, at low tide.
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PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
A line is taut, ensuring the correct alignment of the stakes.
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PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Gabriel, 16, helps his father with his task, also learning the basics of this ancestral tradition.
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PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
A tractor is used to drive the stakes deep into the mud, so that they can withstand strong winds and storms.
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PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Geese observe the work of the fisherman.
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When we meet him in mid-August, the 41-year-old man, who also raises a herd of more than 600 dairy goats, in addition to being president of the Producers of goat’s milk from Quebec, is not idle: the period eel fishing, which runs from September to November, is on our doorstep.
While explaining to us the basics of eel fishing, Rémi Hudon is busy planting his “stakes” at low tide with his 16-year-old son, Gabriel. The fisherman seems to act instinctively, his know-how is so deeply rooted in him. “It’s not a chore for me!” he says, visibly in his element.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Poles, then a net will be installed on the stakes. The goal ? Trap the eel, which has no choice but to enter a series of funnel-shaped boxes called the ansillon, the bourolle and the chest.
Along with two other local eel fishermen, in 2010 he founded Les Trésors du Fleuve, an eel processing company that produces smoked eel and eel sausages. With his company, he would like to revalorize and make better known this delicacy of the St. Lawrence. “The average North American eats very little eel,” he notes. He hopes that this designation will help safeguard this emblematic activity in the region, when there are only about ten fishermen left in Quebec.
Peace of mind as a trademark
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
View of the Rivière-Ouelle wharf and Pointe-aux-Orignaux through the wild rosehips
Very little known, this corner of Rivière-Ouelle is appreciated by people who stay there for its calm, its isolation and its wild nature, far from the hordes of tourists who in summer invade a village like Kamouraska, located about fifteen minutes by car.
“Here, it’s quiet, it’s peaceful. We don’t want to end up with an abundance of tourists or promote commercial development. Peace of mind is our trademark,” said Mayor Simard.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Pierre Laroque, Catherine Morneau, Isabelle Michaud and Alain Rathé sit on the board of directors of the Chapelle du quai.
“What we heard a lot during the public consultations was: ‘We don’t want to make the tip a Kamouraska’,” echoes Pierre Larocque, chairman of the board of directors of La Chapelle du quai, an NPO located a few steps from the Rivière-Ouelle wharf.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
The Chapel on the wharf, in Rivière-Ouelle
Since 2017, the deconsecrated chapel has housed a café and a shop space allowing you to discover local artists and craftsmen. Shows, conferences and activities are organized there during the summer season. Unique products, such as a triptych of posters signed Marlone representing the most beautiful landscapes of the point, have also been created for the organization. This year, the Chapel has also built a belvedere nearby, allowing you to observe the numerous winged fauna found there.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
A great blue heron flies over the river at Rivière-Ouelle. One could observe about thirty species of birds in the sector, in particular from the new belvedere.
PHOTO FROM MARLONE MONTREAL WEBSITE
Marlone created for the Chapelle du quai this triptych representing three landscapes of the territory.
First thought of as a community center, the place is mainly frequented by passing cyclists and people who come to breathe the salty air at the wharf and on the shore.
It’s like a hidden gem here, and sometimes it feels like we want to leave it that way too.
Isabelle Michaud, member of the board of directors of the Chapelle du quai
Known as the perfumer behind the Monsillage company, Mme Michaud has been spending his summers in the local family chalet since his early childhood and also sits on the board of directors of the Chapelle du quai. In 2019, she developed the perfume wharf roada marriage of scents typical of the territory inspired by summer memories of her childhood such as sea grasses, wild rose, driftwood and sweetgrass.
“Kamouraska is super beautiful, but I, personally, like being here much better. It’s more peaceful. It’s not that we don’t like the world, but I think we are capable of living together while respecting nature and the wild aspect of the territory,” concludes Rémi Hudon.
Along Rivière-Ouelle
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
An interpretation panel of the Circuit Fil Rouge, at the Rivière-Ouelle wharf
Founded in 2016 in Saint-Pacôme, Parcours Fil Rouge is an NPO whose mission is to highlight what makes places and communities unique. Its flagship product is Circuit Fil Rouge, which is deployed in municipalities in Kamouraska, including Rivière-Ouelle, and in Charlevoix, and offers a circuit made up of large interpretive panels, with additional podcast content. The one devoted to Rivière-Ouelle makes it possible to discover, through some twenty markers, the history of the village, its founding families, its built and intangible heritage.