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La dernière étape de notre courte escapade de juillet fut Val-Jalbert situé dans la région du Lac-St-Jean. Val-Jalbert est à l’origine un village de compagnie fondé au début du 20e siècle. Il fut habité et prospère jusqu’à la fermeture de l’unique moulin à papier en 1928. Délaissé par ses habitants, Val-Jalbert est devenu un village fantôme avant d’être transformé en site touristique dans les années soixante. Aujourd’hui, Val-Jalbert est une des principales attractions touristiques du Lac-St-Jean.
Suzanne avait visité Val-Jalbert avec sa famille en 1976 et elle avait de bons souvenirs des maisons à l’abandon et de la chute très impressionnante. Le site n’avait pas encore vraiment été mis en valeur; on ne pouvait que se promener dans les rues et voir de l’extérieur des maisons abandonnées. Les transformations des dernières 25 années sont très intéressantes; on peut maintenant visiter quelques maisons qui témoignent de la vie des gens du début du 20e siècle. Ce village était très avant-gardiste car il offrait l’électricité et l’eau courante à tous les habitants ce qui étaient encore rare au Québec.
Ce billet met fin à cette courte série. Nous avons fait quelques autres escapades durant l’été mais la caméra n’était pas dans nos bagages donc aucune photo pour les documenter. Nous espérons nous remettre à la photo avec l’arrivée de l’automne.
The last stop of our short July getaway was Val-Jalbert located in the Lac-St-Jean region. Val-Jalbert was originally a company village founded at the start of the 20th century. It was inhabited and prosperous until the closure of the only paper mill in 1928. Abandoned by its inhabitants, Val-Jalbert became a ghost village before being transformed into a tourist site in the sixties. Today, Val-Jalbert is one of the main tourist attractions in Lac-St-Jean.
Suzanne had visited Val-Jalbert with her family in 1976 and she had fond memories of the derelict houses and the very impressive fall. The site hadn’t really been restored yet; one could only walk through the streets and see abandoned houses from the outside. The transformations of the last 25 years are very interesting; you can now visit some houses that bear witness to the lives of people at the beginning of the 20th century. This village was ahead of its time because it offered electricity and running water to all the inhabitants which were still rare in Quebec.
This post concludes this short series. We did a few other trips during the summer but the camera was never in our luggage so no photos to document them. We hope to get back to photography with the arrival of autumn.
[Auteur/Author: Suzanne & Pierre]
Sue said:
Thanks for giving me a Virtual tour
Suzanne et Pierre said:
Thanks Sue. Glad you enjoyed the tour. It is a fun and interesting place to visit.
Sue said:
I would have loved to have seen the buildings when they were abandoned
Jacqui said:
Eerie and beautiful at the same time! Love this.
Suzanne et Pierre said:
Thanks Jacqui. It was so much fun going back after so many years. I still have very good memories of this trip with the family which I think is the last one I did with everyone. After that, I started working summer and later travelling on my own.
By Marie said:
Je n’ai pas eu la chance de voir ce village même si je suis allée au Lac Saint-Jean. Les maisons me font penser à un village que j’ai vu dans une série télé, ancien village de mineurs de l’époque des années 1800. J’aime beaucoup cette série.
Suzanne et Pierre said:
Merci Marie. Bien contente que cette série ait su vous plaire. C’est un site très intéressant et très bien aménagé. Le site offre aussi de l’hébergement et une bonne table…
Eliza Waters said:
Cool old village, love that waterfall!
Suzanne et Pierre said:
Thanks Eliza. It was indeed very cool and the fall is quite impressive…
Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter said:
The waterfall is very impressive – it must have been very noisy to live next to!
Suzanne et Pierre said:
Thanks Anabel. Yes, it is indeed very loud. I guess you get used to it when you live with it and the houses were built a bit further from the fall so maybe it wasn’t so bad.
Bama said:
Those abandoned houses look rather charming to me — the earthy colors of the facade give them a special character, in my opinion. This looks like a very picturesque and tranquil village, which I love.
Suzanne et Pierre said:
Thanks for your note. It was indeed very picturesque. We quite enjoyed our visit even though the weather was a bit cool and rainy. The people who are managing the site are doing a great job at restoring it and presenting all of the aspect of life in a remote village in the early 20th century. Glad you enjoyed this series.