August 19, 2012 | Travels With Miranda

Aug 19, 2012 -

Fort Chambly (and a Bonus Side Trip to Downtown Montreal)

Canadian history is a bloody mess of conquests, racial tensions, thrilling battles, crushing defeats, and centuries-long grudges. How anyone can call our history boring is beyond me. It is such a shame that many Canadians know about, say, the battle of the Alamo or Custer’s Last Stand but know nothing about the raid on Deerfield or why the political situation in Quebec is as it is.

Canadians need to go to places like Fort Chambly and read the placards or to sites like Fort Lennox where history is brought to life. Our country was born here, along the Saint-Lawrence, Ottawa, and Richelieu Rivers. You can’t understand what it is to be Canadian today without understanding how it is that we got here. I believe that if more Canadians knew and appreciated their history, we would be able to get over our linguistic and cultural grudges and form a strong, united, country. But as long as we keep this nearly four-century year old resentment alive without understanding its basis, there can be no resolution.

Fort Chambly sits at the heart of Canadian history, rooted in the French-Indian Wars of the 17th century, the English conquest of New France of the 18th century, and the 1812 war against the United States.

Located on the banks of the Richelieu River, an important north-south link with New York state, Fort Chambly is now a park where families come to picnic and I used to spend long hours up a tree writing, reading, and day dreaming. I spent my late childhood and adolescence just a few blocks away and the grounds of the fort were like my second home

I’d been meaning to return to the fort all summer. Since I was due for a date with my grand-mother, I proposed that we go to Fort Chambly today. I felt a little trepidation at coming back for the first time in 15 years, but I was glad to see that it was the same place. The trees have grown a little, but that’s it.

I’ll put all the information in the photo captions, but will say that after we toured the fort, we enjoyed a picnic under the trees. Then, we drove to Saint-Lambert to drop off something for my aunt and I got spirited away on a short jaunt to downtown Montreal to see my cousin’s loft; hence the bonus Montreal pictures.

Merci pour la belle journée, grand-maman!

: Fort Chambly from the parking lot. You used to actually see the Fort; the trees have grown!

: The bridge from the parking lot to the Fort, looking towards the Bassin

: Looking up towards Bourgogne Avenue (I took the bus to high school up there for a year).

: I couldn’t believe how much the trees have grown!

: the Bassin de Chambly (a large spot in the Richelieu River), with the marina (the water is FILTHY, so while there is boating, there’s no swimming)

: The Bassin de Chambly

: approaching the entrance to the fort

: approaching the entrance to the fort

: looking up river

: entrance to the fort

: names of some of the major military leaders who commanded the fort in the 17th and 18th centuries (names added at the end of the 19th century)

: inside the fort

: map of New France

: most of the exhibits are about the fort in the late 17th century at the time of New France before the British conquest

: Fort Chambly was built along the Richelieu between Albany and Montreal

: map of the Iroquois Wars/French-Indian Wars, 1641 to 1701

: looking downriver from Montreal to Albany

: at the time, it took four hours to go from Chambly to Longueuil (now about 20 minutes!)

: I remember this pottery

: Fort Saint-Jean was the next fort south of Chambly

: Fort Chambly was the last defensive outpost of Montreal

: I remember this pottery

: Albany and Montreal were rivals in the fur trade but Canada never attacked the city. In the 18th century, it took eight to make the journey by canoe. I made this route in just a few hours northward this spring.

: from Albany looking up towards Montreal

: Albany, 1760

: Montreal, 1760

: looking out towards the middle of the fort

: Lake Champlain

: I still love the plank floors

: wow, this place hasn’t changed!

: fierce Iroquois warriors

: his tattoos are impressive!

: He was a Mohawk chief known as Brant

: the fur trade was the pillar of the New France economy

: reasons for Fort Chambly: in short, to prevent invasion and to provide a staging ground for invasion

: a tomahawk

: a variety of snowshoes

: remnants of a shovel

: The population of New France was 4,415, of which the split was 30% soldiers, 30% women, and 40% civilian men. In other words, women were a commodity in short supply!

: a musket

: the raid on Deerfield was in 1704

: New England prisoners from the raid were forced marched back to Fort Chambly with the woman forced into arranged marriages and the children given to French Canadian families

: 18th century wedding bands

: 18th century children’s clothing

: children were stolen from their families and brought back to Canada to be raised French

: 17th century toys

: a key

: 17th century tools

: the existing fort was rebuilt from 1750 plans

: how the fort was constructed

: powder magazine

: view from the powder magazine

: view from the powder magazine

: powder magazine

: we’re now on the second story and I am showing how the wooden turrets seen from outside are decorative (save one)

: looking out over the Richelieu

: the fort is square with loopholes and other defense mechanisms at each corner

: I’ve always loved his sneer!

: soldiers at work

: that drum looks heavy!

: sword

: a 17th century screwdriver!

: 17th century personal effects of a soldier

: a 17th century shoe

: soldiers having dinner (the corn still looks good, the stew still looks like dog food)

: in the 17th century, the daily ration was about 2,000 calories while today the military rations are about 2,500 calories

: modern rations have changed!

: soldiers grooming (there’s even one sleeping in the bed)

: soldiers with families billeted in the village

: soldiers at rest

: a soldier “enjoyed a good life and a bad reputation”

: tobacco

: an imposing commander

: Fort Chambly was surrendered to the English in September of 1760, just before the capitulation of New France

: In1763, the King of France conceded defeat and handed New France to the British. Two hundred years later, the French would take back their country during Quebec’s Quiet Revolution. Two centuries of English oppression cannot be forgiven and now the English in Quebec are paying for the sins of their ancestors. How many generations will it take for this rift to be healed?

: “All conquests go deep — they are among the deepest of human experiences.”

: a dormer window looking into the courtyard

: comparison of the population in different years

: lovely window

: a typical French Canadian homestead (seigneurie) was 10 times as long as it was wide and was set against the river

: sample 18th century homestead

: bread was a staple food, with wheat comprising 50% of the diet

: other grains, like rye and corn, comprised 10% each of the diet

: toys

: we are about to go up to the watchtower (watch your head!)

: it’s very claustrophobic up there!

: gorgeous view from the watchtower

: gorgeous view from the watchtower

: gorgeous view from the watchtower

: I always thought this model of a bird was pretty

: entering the Albany room (named for the singer Albani), which holds temporary exhibits (currently about the War of 1812)

: “For Canadians, the War of 1812 was about the successful defense of a small colony against attack by a much larger neighbor.”

: a cocky 13-year-old boy did not believe the Americans would win

: “For the United States, the War of 1812 was a second successful war of independence from Britain.”

: I am really amused that the US thinks it won the War of 1812 because Canada didn’t conquer it.

: Tony Blair apologizes for the British/Canada burning down the Library of Congress during the War of 1812.

: Tony Blair apologizes for the British/Canada burning down the Library of Congress during the War of 1812.

: While US and British relations normalized after the War of 1812, Native Americans were left vulnerable.

: modern Britain has almost completely forgotten the War of 1812

: back in the courtyard, we’re heading towards the luxurious (for the time) privies

: this luxurious privy was over fast moving water, meaning no smells or diseases

: looking up the rapids

: looking towards the rear of the fort

: Grand-maman packed lunch. It doesn’t look like much, but it got me to dinner, which is no small feat! We had crackers, cheese, almonds, a fig, half a banana, and a couple of bite-sized oatmeal chocolate chip cookies each, plus water. We ate on the grass in the shade of a big tree.

: the watchtower we visited

: the watchtower we visited

: the rear of the fort (with fake watchtowers)

: In 1775-1776, during their War of Independence, the Americans invaded Canada. In 1812, we finally had enough and burned down their White House. :)

: Saint-Jean was favoured over Chambly for defense starting in 1840

: I used to climb this tree and read in its branches for hours!!!

: The big hole was smaller back then, but the seat-like branch where I’d make myself comfy is still there

: the tree looks a lot worse for wear now!

: :(

: the father of one of my high school friends was the reverend of this church

: the guard house (closed to visits)

: my grand-mother thought it was hilarious that my best memory of this park and community centre was of the time I stepped in dog doo there!

: The Ducharme residence (formerly a garrison, then converted to a stately home)

: it’s for sale!

: the house was bought in 1908 and used as a saddlery, then was converted to a residence in 1938

: Fort Chambly is a National Historic Site

: intersection of Bourgogne and Langevin, the street where I grew up. I took my bus here one year and resented it badly since I lived on the opposite end of the street (quite a distance) and the bus passed just a block from my house.

: looking down Langevin street

: I lived here from 1987 to 1998 (age 8 to 19). It’s not a mansion! There are three apartments; we lived in two and rented the third. The joke was that the guy who built it was missing only two tools: a level and a square. The house was a bunch of rooms added to each other and we actually discovered a secret room off the garage (cold cellar) and there was a secret passage going from my room to the downstairs apartment!