L'Ange-Gardien

L'Ange-Gardien is an eastern suburban municipality of Quebec City, in Quebec.

The main attractions of the municipality are:
 * the resort area around Lac la Retenue (at the foot of Mont du Curé-Gravel);
 * the rich heritage of Avenue Royale where many ancestral houses have been well renovated and large old buildings bear witness to the agricultural past;
 * recreational tourism: hiking, cycling, nautical activities on the Île d'Orléans channel and activities organized by the local recreation department;
 * the municipal parks: riverside Espace Fillion park (park connected to the cycle route), the Amus'Anges park, the Éva park, the wood runners park, the Recreation Center park, the bike stop on rue Casgrain, the Marie-Hélène Prémont cycle route;
 * agritourism;
 * regional tourist routes: the New France route, the creators' route, the Côte-de-Beaupré route, the religious heritage route and the Gourmet route.

Understand
The village borders the St. Lawrence River and faces Île d'Orléans.

Besides the main village of L'Ange-Gardien, the various hamlets are: Dufournel, Petit-Pré (near the boundary of Château-Richer) and Lac la Retenue. The vast majority of residents live on the strip along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, along routes 360 and 138, and partly around Lac la Retenue or along Chemin Lucien-Lefrançois.

Geography
The majority of the municipal territory is mountainous and forested. The St. Lawrence plain stretches up to 460 m from the river on the limit with Boischatel and from the river at the limit with Château-Richer.

L'Ange-Gardien has a restricted agricultural zone in the Petit-Pré sector, between the foot of the moraine and the shore of the Île d'Orléans channel. In the hinterland, the rest of the territory is entirely forested and hilly by the foothills of the Laurentians. The highest peak in the territory is the Mont du Curé-Gravel (summit at 631 m) at the limit of Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval and L'Ange-Gardien. This summit overlooks Lac la Retenue (south side of the mountain) and the village of Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval (northwest side of the mountain).

History
From the beginning of New France, after the founding of Quebec in 1608, the Côte-de-Beaupré was colonized between the Montmorency River and Cap Tourmente. In 1626, Samuel de Champlain established the first farm in the St. Lawrence Valley in Château-Richer. The first source using "Château-Richer" is the map of Jean Bourdon in 1641; it referred to the cape and the prominence on which the current church stands. Twenty concessions were granted in 1646. With the arrival of new settlers, agriculture and forestry then became the fundamental engines of the local economy. Nevertheless, the inhabitants devote themselves in particular to hunting, fishing, crafts, river transport and the fur trade.

The parish of L'Ange-Gardien was canonically erected in 1664.

The toponym "Chemin des sucreries" (Sweets Path) which runs along the north shore of the Ferry River (north-west of L'Ange-Gardien) bears witness to the sugar bush exploitation activities in this steep-sided valley, between Lac la Retenue and the Montmorency River.

By car

 * From Quebec City (17 km, time: 15 min), take Autoroute 440 (Eastbound) which becomes Route 138 in the Montmorency Falls sector, to the village of L'Ange-Gardien.
 * From Montreal (274 km, time: 2 hr 49 min), take Highway 20 (direction East); cross the Pierre-Laporte bridge and continue on Highway 73 (northbound); take Highway 440 (Eastbound); take Route 138 (eastbound) to the village of L'Ange-Gardien.

Eat
Since March 2020, in the context of health measures resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, several restaurants or dining rooms in Charlevoix have transformed the mode of meals at the tables into take-out or by delivery service. In general, restaurateurs have shown great resilience by updating their website, integrating interactive and automated applications for remote orders, as well as displaying the menu, opening hours, their mode of operation (e.g., by reservation, car service), health measures required (e.g., vaccination record, mask, distancing), other services (e.g., caterer, shops, accommodation, access for the disabled, wi-fi, take-out, delivery), contact details and often the history of the restaurant or site. Considering the evolving context of the pandemic and government measures, it is recommended that customers obtain information from each establishment by consulting their respective website.