Yamachiche

Yamachiche is a municipality of the Maskinongé Regional county municipality (RCM), in Mauricie, in Quebec, in Canada. Yamachiche is registered among the Villages-relais du Québec (Quebec Relay Villages).

The village of Yamachiche is built around the junction of route 138 (serving the north shore of the St. Lawrence River) and route 153 which leads north to Shawinigan, via Saint-Barnabé-nord. Yamachiche is a town of about 2,800 people (2016) in Mauricie.

Every spring and fall, hundreds of thousands of migratory birds stop off by landing on Lac Saint-Pierre (and its tributaries) and on the surrounding land, many of which are flooded during the snowmelt period.

History
In 1653, the area was part of a fief granted to Pierre Boucher de Grosbois, Governor of Trois-Rivières, but because of war with the Iroquois First Nation, it could not be colonized until the beginning of the 18th century.

In 1703, the first colonists, the three Gélinas brothers, settled in the area and by 1706, there were 7 families. In 1711, the first chapel was built, dedicated to Sainte Anne by Récollet Siméon Dupont, and the Parish of Sainte-Anne was formed in 1722. A year later, the settlement consisted of about 20 families and 100 persons.

In 1725, the Chemin du Roy (French for "King's Highway") was built connecting it with Louiseville and Pointe-du-Lac. In 1764, the West Grosbois Seignory was purchased by Conrad Gugy, thereby becoming the first French-Canadian Seignory in English possession. Between 1765 and 1790, Yamachiche grew quickly with new settlers from Acadia (Acadians expelled by the English) and from the United States, particularly Loyalists from Massachusetts.

The houses in the village were generally built in the second half of the 19th century. They have common characteristics: large, red brick, large gallery on one or two sides of the house. The main patrimonial houses located on rue Sainte-Anne (route 138) are: Barthelémy-Caron house (531 Ste-Anne), Louis-Léon-Lesieur Désaulniers house (571-573 Ste-Anne), Louis-Octavien-Maxime-Bellemare house and Banque-provinciale-du-Canada building.

Geography
The territory of Yamachiche has a relatively uniform relief which is favorable to agriculture. The main hamlets are: Village-des-Caron, Grande Acadie, Petite Acadie and Petite Rivière.

At Yamachiche, the north shore of Lac Saint-Pierre has two bays including Anse de Yamachiche which is separated by two points (peninsulas) attached to the north shore and crossed respectively by the Langevin stream and the Yamachiche river.

Get in
Quebec Autoroute 40 provides access to Yamachiche with 3 interchanges.

The Express Bleu bus leaves from the Cégep in Trois-Rivières M-F at 07:55, 11:55, and 17:55, and stops 30-40 min later in Yamachiche at Porte de la Mauricie, Hôtel de Ville, and the Shell Station Service Shell (871, rue Ste-Anne). The fare is $6, children under 6 free (Apr 2019).