The Good Ol' Days

Following Chemin Craig

St-Sylvestre (Beauce)

Ok... so it feels like we're driving to nowhere... No houses, no farms... basically nothing but trees and this relentlessly winding road that twists and turns through the forest. It's like driving through a forest tunnel. It messes with your peripheral vision. Almost dream-like. The road: Chemin Craig. I begin to wonder where exactly this road is going to bring us...
 
Suddenly, we come across a street sign... It appears we've entered Saint-Sylvestre de Beauce. I've been here before... but never in this area. This area was different. It was deserted, it was desolate, and it was nice. We crossed an old covered bridge. Pont Saint-André was its name. According to the signage it was built in 1927. The bridge crossed the Filkars River, which is quite Scottish sounding... But oddly enough, there no longer was evidence of the river. I guess it had dried up.

We continued on... the road, suddenly became Montgomery Road as we entered Irlande. I'm not quite sure at what moment we entered the village because there weren't any signs. However, the shamrocks on the street signs indicated that we had changed jurisdictions.

Next, we crossed the Palmer River and the Sunday River as we drove through Leeds.
Until we hit what once was the small village of Lower-Ireland, or what is now known as Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf. It was quite beautiful. The previous Irish presence could definitely be felt. -And what do you know?! ... All of a sudden we're back on Chemin Craig! How does that work you ask? I honestly have no idea. But we did come across an enormous white cross that was planted along the roadside, which also happened to be an observation point. And luckily enough there was a sign describing the historical importance of Chemin Craig in terms of colonizing the Eastern Townships.     

After driving a few more kilometres up the road, we spotted a VERY hidden drive. When I say hidden... I mean it! We drove past it at first... but we noticed that there was something odd about the clearing in the woods, so we turned back to check it out. According to a commemorative plaque we found on a rock, it appeared to be the location of was once an Anglo-Irish Wesleyan Methodist Church. The only thing remaining were the grave stones dispersed on the small lot of land.

We drove a little while longer. We followed Chemin Craig until we hit Saint-Adrien-d'Irlande. It was a small village. A church was located in the town center, along with a small elementary school and recreational center. The one thing that stood out in this area was that every single house had the last name of its owner posted on top of their mail boxes. So as we drove along we really got a feel for the place. Even though we didn't come across anyone, it gave the village a friendly vibe. 

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