Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu

Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu is a picturesque municipality with a riverside and rural landscape on the St. Lawrence plain, in La Vallée-du-Richelieu Regional County Municipality, in the Montérégie region of Quebec.

Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu is a recreational, nautical and agricultural destination facing Saint-Marc-sur-Richelieu, on the opposite bank of the Richelieu River. The main attractions of Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu are, in particular:
 * its recreational tourism infrastructure and services, in particular its municipal parks, marinas, wharves and other services for travellers/boaters;
 * its built heritage which displays a rustic and well-renovated character (including agricultural buildings), in particular the resort buildings along the Richelieu River or the country houses;
 * its rural and riverside landscape, which bears witness to the activities of citizens in this part of the St. Lawrence plain;
 * pleasure boating on the Richelieu River ( river segment) and related services for boaters;
 * heritage, art and flavours, or cycle tourism circuits.

History


On March 1, 1695, Governor Frontenac signed a decree granting a fourth seigniory along the Richelieu River to François Hertel de la Fresnière, a soldier. The latter designated the seigneury of Saint-François-Le-Neuf, which would later be designated Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu.

The first church was blessed in 1740, dedicated to Saint-Charles. In 1800, almost all the lots of land were granted; nevertheless, without any village.

From 1695 to 1877, ten lords succeeded each other as owners of the lordship, because several of them had to give up their rights due to bankruptcy.

After the 1834 election, the Parti Patriote rallied almost the entire French-speaking population. Lord Debartzch disassociated himself from Papineau and sided with the English. The battle of November 1837 took place between the English army and the Patriots.

The 300th anniversary of Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu was celebrated in 1995.

Geography
Apart from the dwellings in the strip of riverside land (including the village), rue de l'Union, rang du Côteau, 3rd row (north and south), 4th row (north and south), as well as an area forest (north-south direction), the rest of the territory of Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu is mainly agricultural.

By car

 * From Montréal (51 km, time: 43 mins). Take the Jacques-Cartier bridge (east); take route 132 (eastbound); take Autoroute 20 (eastbound) and cross the bridge over the Richelieu River; take Route 133 (northbound) to the village of Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu.
 * From Quebec (218 km, time: 2 hr 14 min). Take Autoroute 20 (westbound) to Saint-Hyacinthe; take Grand Rang (north) which becomes Union Street, to the village of Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu.

Get around
The Richelieu River crossing service allows you to avoid a long detour to go south to the Autoroute 20 bridge or north to the Autoroute 30 bridge in Sorel.

Eat
Several restaurants or dining rooms in the Montérégie have transformed the mode of meals at the tables into take-out or delivery service. In general, restaurateurs have demonstrated great resilience by updating their website, integrating interactive and automated applications for remote orders, as well as the display of the menu, opening hours, their mode of operation (e.g. by reservation, drive-thru), sanitary measures required, other services (e.g. catering, shops, accommodation, access for the disabled, wi-fi, take-out food, delivery), contact details and often the history of the restaurant or site.