East Coast 2022: Back to Toronto - St. Lawrence South Shore from Ste-Flavie to Ste-Eulalie

The last two days of our East Coast road trip involved heading out from Ste. Flavie and driving along the south shore of the St. Lawrence River where my husband Rich had planned a bunch of interesting sites to stop at.  We would stay overnight at Sainte-Eulalie, Quebec and then continue with the final trek home with a stop in Brockville, Ontario along the way.

Our first stop, Sainte-Luce-Sur-Mer, is a charming seaside village founded in 1829.  It is famous for its beautiful 2.5km beach called Plage-Sainte-Luce, with a wooden boardwalk running parallel to the sandy shore. On the other side of the boardwalk are patches of green space interspersed between parking spots for visitors to the area. Situated on these green spaces can be found a series of gigantic sculptures carved in wood.  These are the results of prior years’ participants in an annual woodcarving event called “Les Sculpturales”.  Each year, four local professional wood-carving sculptors gather in the open air along the promenade Anse-aux-Coques and create their works while tourists watch.  The sculptures range from artistic to kitschy but are all masterful pieces.  From 2016, the title of our favourites was translated as “The Laugh of Captain Big Mouth” and made for great photos of us sticking our heads through the front or back of his large gaping mouth.   One from 2012 is titled “The Measurer of the Tides”.

Each year one of the sculptures is donated to one of the event’s sponsors while the rest are displayed in public spaces in Sainte-Luce.  A sculpture from 2018 depicts the legend of a diver who finds a mermaid, while one from 2011 shows a young child looking at a starfish in his pail.  There were multiple sculptures depicting wildlife including a giant turtle, a white bird diving for fish and a whale. The logs used in this event come from New Brunswick and are pieces of wood that were too large to be sawn into boards by factory machines.  What a great use for otherwise unusable logs!  At one end of the beach is a life preserver with the words Empress of Ireland on it.  At our next stop, we would see another memorial for this ship which sank nearby at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River.

On our way to Rimouski, we saw a house that had an extremely cute and narrow little shelter shaped like a school bus on its lawn.  I assumed that this might be a place for a child to wait for his school bus to arrive while sheltering from the elements.  We also passed Auberge la Marée Douce, which is a seafront hotel that offers a wide range of outdoor activities such as fishing, cycling and water sports.  Had I seen a photo of this hotel in black and white, I would have thought I was looking at the Addams Family House with the centre tower and widow’s walk.  Our main destination in Rimouski was to see the HMCS Onondaga Submarine that was built in the mid 1960s and is now one of the main attractions at the Pointe-au-Père Site Historique Maritime (maritime museum), which also has a large exhibit dedicated to the Empress of Ireland.  Unfortunately, it was pouring rain when we arrived, so we ran up for a quick look before continuing on.

Our next stop was Saint-Simon-de-Rimouski and more specifically, Saint-Simon Bagel which most be amongst the world’s smallest self-serve bagel shops.  In a tiny kiosk situated on an open field along Rte 132 is a vending machine that sells bagged artisan bagels in flavours including plain, sesame seed, poppy seed, cinnamon raison, chocolate, pesto and olive, sundried tomato, maple (in season) and vegan (no egg, milk or honey added?).  I was intrigued by the bag of “rainbow” coloured bagels.

At Trois-Pistoles, Quebec, we visited Basques Fromagerie which offered cheeses made from cow’s milk produced right on the property, as well as spreads, pâtés, sauces and creton, a pork pâté which we tried at breakfast in Sainte-Flavie the previous day.  We watched the master cheesemaker perform some of  the 14 steps needed to make cheese, which include pasterization, adding ferment (bacterial culture used in fermentation) and rennet (to cause milk to curdle), boiling, draining the liquid or whey to extract the curds which are eventually pressed into blocks of cheese.  Rich and I bought some 4-year-old cheddar, some lobster pâté and a fois gras pâté to bring home in our cooler.

Knowing that I like “big things”, Rich added L’isle Verte on our route so that I could see the giant strawberry in front of La Crèmerie du Potager.  It wasn’t really worth a stop, so I just took a photo from the car window.  Next we headed for St. André to see the Petit Phare, or small lighthouse by the south shore of the St. Lawrence River.  Looking across the river, there were a few islands including one which has the “Long Pilgram” lighthouse on it and several that are bird sanctuaries.  Before reaching the Petit Phare, we passed Parc de L’Ancien Quai which had a cool playground apparatus shaped like a beached schooner, and a cute receptacle for donations shaped like a soldier. Approaching from inland, the Petit Phare looked like a typical lighthouse except for the long ramp leading up to it.

But viewed from the other side with the water at our back, we found an additional room with a little sitting and dining area that was added on to give hikers or passersby a place to have an indoor picnic or to take shelter in case of inclement weather.  Panels on the wall inform visitors about the flora and fauna of the area.  One poster features some photographs by Patrick Matte of lighthouses found along the St. Lawrence River.  A little bit further down the highway, we could see the steeple of the Catholic Church of St. André.

Heading just a bit further east from St. André, we arrived at Kamouraska Beach in time to witness low tide. The St. Lawrence had ebbed so far back that a boat that would normally be bobbing up and down in the river was stranded, sitting an top of a bed of mud.  I wonder if that boat is permanently anchored there because it shows up in the same location on Goggle Street View during high tide.  The seabed is revealed all the way to the islands that serve as a national wildlife area for birds.  We wandered out onto the Quai Miller wharf before heading into town.

As always, I like spotting cool houses and buildings with unique architectural details. In Kamouraska Beach, we spotted one that looked like a lighthouse and a pale blue-grey house with a 2-storey turret and ornate gingerbread trim around the downstairs porch and upstairs balcony that was for sale.   Another magnificent building with a crenelated tower and two mini decorative turrets turned out to be the Centre d’Arts Kamouraska, or the town’s main art gallery.  Outside the gallery was a sound installation consisting of 156 bottles hung from metal rods that are arranged in the shape of a wave.  Titled “Mer du Vent”, the bottles capture the wind coming from the sea with the vibration of the air causing a harmonious hum.  A stone sculpture on the other side of the stairwell is titled “Mon Amour”.

Inside Centre d’Arts Kamouraska, we interacted with an exhibit titled “A Stroll Through Landscape Under Construction”, which invites you to walk on wooden pathways as we passed chairs, furniture, and large canvases painted in bright yellows, greens and blues in order to get a different perspective of our “landscape”.  “The Earth in Suspense” was a video installation that displayed images of geological formations and fragments of territories altered by video and 3-D effects.  We visited a second gallery called Champagne et Paradis that displayed paintings and photographs by various local artists that focused on nature and its beauty. We also found a monument dedicated to Réne Chaloult who was the driving force behind the adoption of Quebec’s flag, the Fleur-de-lis.

Our final stop before staying overnight at Ste.Eulalie was the small village of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli where we found several interesting points of interest. The first was Bison Chouinard which sells bison meat and bison products. Initially more than 100 bison were raised on this site and tours were given to see them.  The herd has since been moved to another farm, but bison products are still for sale here and a stuffed head, tanned hides, skulls and horns are on display.  To take home with us, we bought some bison pepperoni, roulette, pâté and a small package of smoked bison.

The next stop in this area was a complex situated in a large barn that consisted of a gourmet grocery store selling locally made products and an artisan gift shop.  At Le Moule à Sucre (The Sugar Mold), we were tempted into tasting some delicious raspberry butter and ended up buying a jar, along with a beer sausage, cheddar cheese and some Beechman gum which Rich remembered eating in his youth.

The Metier d’Arts was located at the top level of the barn where you could see the rafters.  Here we found brightly painted metal sculptures fashioned into whimsical rabbits, caterpillars, chickens, goats, toy buses and more.  There were also paintings, candles, clothing, linens, jewelry, books and other items for purchase.

Continuing on along Route 132, we reached the Parc de Trois Bérets, a large sculpture park named in honour of the three Bougault brothers ( Médard, André and Jean-Julien), famous local wood carvers who were part of one of the founding families of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli.  Between the 1930s-1950s, the prolific brothers created folk art, figurative and symbolic works reflecting local cultures, vignettes in the round depicting daily life in Quebec and religious carvings.  Keeping with the wood carving tradition established by the brothers, the park is full of wonderful gigantic carvings that are both intricate and in some cases, quirky and whimsical.  The Parc de Trois Bérets is a popular gathering place for art and music festivals.

In addition to the massive open-air sculpture garden, there is an interpretation trail weaving along the coastline with sculpted benches commemorating the founding families of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, and a maritime interpretation trail built by Friends of Port-Joli with benches, tables, swings, and a replica of the Paquebot S.S. Canadian, a steam ship built in 1857.  On board the ship is a treasure chest that opens up to reveal a book exchange where you can take or leave a book. 

We had one last stop in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli area before heading to Sainte-Eulalie where we would spend the night.  It was at the Tour de l’Innovation, a 64-foot-tall structure with 5 landings, 95 steps and two foot-bridges connecting the structure to the adjacent mountain.  At the end of the first bridge, affixed to the cliff, is a large white sculpture of the Virgin Mary.  The highest bridge leads to a platform where you can get excellent views of the Museum of Living Memory below and Charlevoix across the river.  Beyond this platform is a path that leads along the south side of the cliff.  The Innovation Tower and its steps are made by adjoining many small pieces wood to recall the techniques used and heritage of the regions’ great builders and innovators of the past, which ties into the mission of the Museum of Living Memory. All along the steps are interpretive panels and QR codes accessible by mobile phones to provide information about maritime life in the area.

Sainte-Eulalie is just north of the Trans-Canada Highway, so we passed by it on our trek out to Nova Scotia.  As we drove through the area, we caught sight of a large ranch-styled building which housed an establishment called “Ben Lalen” with the image of a sheep on the large sign in front of it.  Our first thought was that this was a very unfortunate name for a store since it sounded very close to “Bin Laden” as in Osama’s last name.  After some research when we got home, we found out that this was a business that sold products derived from wool and animal skins, run by retired sheepskin seller Benoit Thibodeau who had the French nickname of “Ben La Laine” translated loosely as “Ben of the wool”.  This explained the store name Ben Lalen, but none of that was what made us take note of the location and seek it out on our way back to Toronto.  What caught our eyes were the quirky, eclectic giant fiberglass sculptures displayed all along the front of his shop including ones hoisted in the air by a cherry picker and figures on the rooftop.

Benoit Thibodeau creates all these sculptures and groups together pieces as diverse as Obelix, Minion, Golf Ball, Bagel and Jesus on the Cross. There are all sorts of animal figures including cows (which our friend Murray loves!), lions, pigs, moose, sheep, chicken, rhinoceros,  lobster, horses and more.  There were giant French fries, ice cream cones, and on the roof were a series of prancing sheep.  Ben Lalen produces over 200 fiberglass objects per year as requisitioned by companies to use as advertisement. Inside the store (which was closed so we couldn’t check it out) are fur and wool garments, stuffed animals and animal skins including 14 skunk skins sewn together.  Behind the store, Thibodeau owns a farm where he raises sheep, goats and alpacas.

This was an extremely fun way to spend our morning in Sainte-Eulalie, before making the final leg journey back to Toronto with a last stop in Brockville, Ontario. We did not know it at the time, but just a few minutes down the road from Ben Lalen was the restaurant Madrid 2.0 where we could seen giant dinosaur sculptures.  This stretch along the south shore of the St. Lawrence River was so much fun and sadly, we didn't have enough time to fully appreciate it.  This will need to be a return trip where we could also explore the north shore.