Our history

The site of the cottages

You are standing on the ancestral land of Pierre Labbé, who arrived in New France with the Carignan regiment in 1665. He settled permanently in Saint-François in 1673, where he took Marguerite Meunier as his second wife and had 13 children with her. And so began one part of the great story of colonization.

The legend of the sorcerers (version 1)

"The people of Île d'Orléans have a reputation for being something of sorcerers; folk turn to them to learn the future, or what is happening in faraway places. For example, if the ships from France are running late, they are consulted for news." The people of Saint-François, best placed to spot the ships appearing on the horizon, were no doubt the first to spread the news. "It is said they sometimes answered rather accurately," the priest adds, "that is, having guessed right once or twice and letting people believe, for their own amusement, that they spoke with certain knowledge, it came to be imagined that they had consulted the devil."

The legend of the sorcerers (version 2)

"In the old days, because of the tide, people went out to check their fishing weirs in the middle of the night, each carrying a burning fir torch to light the way. It was a curious sight, all those fires crossing one another. The people on the coast soon saw something supernatural in it. Before long they took fright and no longer dared leave their homes at night. The islanders were declared evil spirits, werewolves, will-o'-the-wisps (...) and it goes without saying that the islanders were not foolish enough to set them straight."

And so the people of Saint-François turned this reputation for sorcery to their advantage.