This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
Unlike most Fairmont hotels in Canada, Manoir Richelieu has nothing to do with the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Its history is instead tied to the famous white boats of the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company.
The year is 1899. Charlevoix is on the rise with wealthy vacationers who come to get a breath of fresh air on the St. Lawrence River to escape the pandemics and pollution of big cities. In an effort to attract them to stay longer in the region, the boat company itself builds a luxury wooden hotel in La Malbaie. It is named after Cardinal Richelieu, a prominent figure in the colonization of New France.
“Tourists would arrive in June aboard the white boats,” says Caroline Ouellet, Director of Sales and Marketing at the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu. “We would pick them up in a horse-drawn carriage at the Pointe-au-Pic wharf and they would disembark with their entire entourage, their doctors, grandparents, the nanny for the children… It was really a big deployment, and they didn’t just stay a few days, they would spend the whole summer there.”
The hotel quickly gained a reputation as one of the most prestigious resorts in Canada, attracting well-heeled travellers from across North America and Europe, including William Howard Taft on 27e President of the United States. His descendants are said to still own property in the area.
“I divide the history of the manor into three major periods,” she explains. “First, there is the wooden period, from its construction until the fire of 1928. The second begins in 1929 and ends with the arrival of the consortium in 1998, spanning nearly 60 years. A lot has happened during that time.” It was in 1929 that the Canadian Steamship Line—born from the merger of the Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Company and several other shipping companies in 1913—acquired the manor. It would remain so until 1966, after which various owners followed one another.
Over time, the establishment underwent several renovations and expansions to keep up with changing hotel trends and the demands of customers eager to discover all the charm of Charlevoix. A major change was certainly the transformation of the hotel’s summer theatre into a casino in 1994. This also heralded the third period of the Manoir Richelieu, when the consortium formed by Loto-Québec, the Fonds de solidarité FTQ and CP took over the management of the establishment in 1998 and included it in the large family of Fairmont hotels.
Internationally renowned stars
Many big names have stayed at the remarkable manor over its 125-year history, from politicians to movie stars, but the best stars to see are those in the region’s sky. At the Charlevoix Astronomical Observatory, located in the former golf club of the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu, visitors can gaze at the particularly bright stars in the company of popular science experts. The unique character of this corner of Quebec doesn’t stop there.
In fact, the Charlevoix Biosphere Reserve was recognized in 1988 as part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) program on Man and the Biosphere. This is due to its unique rugged terrain, shaped by meteorite impact and glaciations. The result: the territory goes from a temperate maritime climate on the coast to tundra vegetation at the top of the highest mountains. You can learn all about it at the Charlevoix Astrobleme Observatory, located in the same place as the Astronomical Observatory. A stay at the Manoir Richelieu is definitely just as legendary as it was in the beginning.
This summer at the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu
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