lieu historique national du canada de la grosse-ile-et-le-memorial-des-irlandais

You like beeing deported.....like our Irish Friends years ago.....into back centuries, you should visit the Big Island (grosse Ile in French ) .The best way to get there is you take a boat at Quebec City port, with a bilingual guide, and after one hour, you`ll walk in the many pathes of the Island.You will be impressed by the way the new arrivals( people ) were clean of their bacteries with a subtance similar to white flour ( limestone ) , impressed also by the cemetery where 5000 people are burried.The visit is ending with a tour of the village ( doctor`s office, post office, Church, etc. )AND ALL THAT FOR A FEE OF +OR- 85.00$ INCLUDING THE BOAT RIDE.

This place is a must go for anyone in Canada, the history is very sad but its beautiful. Its a short visit I find, Wish it was more open to explore and more documentation but I just love this place, its now so peaceful and relaxing

On a recent trip to Quebec, my husband and I took the Croisieres Lachance ferry from Berthier Sur Mer to Grosse Ile on a bright sunny and warm late September day. The comfortable 1/2 hour ride gave the ferry staff time to give an interesting talk about the islands in this part of the St Lawrence in both French and English. The ferry left at 10:30 and left the island @3:45 We were met by guides who immediately made us feel welcome. Our small group of 7 English speakers had a well informed and entertaining English speaking guide, who managed to show us the island, schedule our lunch stop, and answer our questions smoothly without waiting for or holding up either of the 2 larger French groups to get thru an exhibit. We were told that the majority of visitors are French speaking Quebecers.Our guide gave us the history of the island's use as a quarantine station during the Irish famine of 1847 as well as other immigrations. We had sufficient time to go through the various gruesome disinfecting shed and see the field of mass graves, and the Celtic Cross, as well as, have a picnic lunch before touring the buildings at the other end of the island.There was a small shop to purchase sandwiches and cold drinks or coffee as well as souvenirs. Many people brought their own lunch in coolers which they stored under the stairs to the shop.As an Irish descendant, I felt very moved by this site and was glad to have been able to visit.We learned so much and felt that visiting this historic site offers great value for the price of admission.

This is a must see park, do not miss. It is very interesting and very well presented.We have enjoyed greatly.

We went on a boat with croisières Le Coudrier located on Port de Québec on a beautiful sunny day, it took two hours to get there from Québec, and, fortunately, the sea was calm too... We left the dock at 10h in the morning, crammed into the back of the boat on added chairs and tables, with not much space to move around for a two hours ride.. We were told that we had a 4 hours stay in Grosse-île, but it turns out that we had only 3h15, which was really not enough, since we had to lunch there and see 3 differents parts of the island...and all the guided tours started at every hours... very disapointing cause we could'nt explore the immigrants disinfection building (croisieres le Coudrier's fault). Once we get in the island, the guides were really nice and very interesting, but there is a lack of visitors services to enjoy the place as much as we wish...No shade anywhere... There was merely 6 or 7 uneven picnic tables near the main place, with no shade at all... just enough batrooms and only some items to drink and eat to choose from at the little store... Also, there is no locker or place where we can store our coolbox and have to walk along the path with it for the 3 hours long...really boring and surprising, since we had to lunch there, as everyone does on their day long visit/stay... They certainly could do better...Beside this, we enjoyed our visit very much, moving and learning a lot but left unsatisfied and more curious about this big part of our history (you only discover that there is so much more to tell, they could make a movie or something with that!), and would have to get back someday!!!

This federal park was on my "Must See" list for a long time. I finally went, by boat from Berthier-sur-mer near Montmagny. The island must be seen with a guide, and also when actors are playing real historic characters, to be fully appreciated. It is an intense experience, because of the painful nature of the quarantine that a very large number of immigrants experienced here upon their arrival in Canada. There is a feeling of authenticity thanks to the careful management of this historic site. The location in the middle of the majestic Saint-Lawrence adds an element of intense beauty to the visit, which heightens the emotional experience by being so opposite to the sadness of the events that took place here. Can this visit be painful? Yes, but don't we have a duty to remember?

We took the Lachance Ferry from Berthier sur Mer. It was very interesting. We were greeted by guides, some of whom were dressed in the traditional dress of the time. We took the tram from the landing point to the eastern part of the Island. The guides are very informative and it is such a very sad place. So many people died there. They were miserable in Ireland and then came here to die of typhus, smallpox and many other diseases. It is amazing that anyone survived! Then we went to the cemetery and the huge Celtic cross. We prayed and we were lucky to attend mass with our tour group under the cross. We truly enjoyed our visit. It was truly informative and very worthwhile. A must-see for anyone of Irish ancestry.

Tout d'abord, l'animation sur le bateau des croisières Lachance donne le ton à cette belle journée que j'ai passé à Grosse-ile. Une fois sur l'île, le personnel est tout aussi sympathique. Le guide (pierre-alexandre) maîtrisait bien le contenu et le rendait de façon fort intelligente. J'ai aimé y aller en automne. Les couleurs sont magnifiques. L'habillage en plusieurs couches est à privilégier, car durant la traversée c'est frisquet,mais une fois sur l'île, c'est plus chaud. J'aurais aimé profiter d'une période de temps libre pour marcher en fin de visite. Je recommande fortement cette activité.

nous avons viste la grosse ile site historique, ile de la quarantaine, beaucoup de vieux batiment qui date des annee 1700 1800 1900 ,tres beau site pour en apprendre sur se qui c est passe avec les irlandais, on part pour un bon 6 heures d excursion avec le bateau pour nous amener sur ile ou on passe une tres belle journee.

Nous sommes allés faire l'excursion des Petits Pingouins avec les croisières Lachance. Quelques personnes débarquaient sur la Grosse Ile pour y faire l'excursion. Nous avons déjà pris part à celle-ci par le passé. La Grosse Ile est situé au milieu du fleuve St-Laurent et elle surplombe l'archipel de l 'Isle-aux-Grues. C'est une ancienne station de quarantaine où près de quatre millions d'immigrants arrivant au Canada ont dû transiger entre 1832 et 1937.A visiter: le bâtiment de désinfection, l'immense croix celtique, la chapelle anglicane. Également,les deux cimetières où des milliers de personnes y sont enterrées. On peut prendre le petit train-balade et traverser le village historique. Vous pouvez aller visiter le Lazaret, cet édifice est le dernier des abris construit en 1847. La batterie de canons devant l'Ile était installée pour rappeler à tous les navires l'arrêt obligatoire sur la Grosse Ile.Après la deuxième guerre mondiale, l'île a servi pour des expériences secrètes liées à la guerre bactériologique. De 1957 à 1965, Agriculture Canada agissait comme poste de la quarantaine pour les animaux importés d'Europe. Aujourd'hui, on peut visiter l'île et croyez-moi on ne peut rester indifférent à cette portion de notre histoire...

26 juillet 2012, je suis allé visité Grosse-île et le mémorial des Irlandais avec mon père de 86 ans qui est natif de la région et n'avait jamais entendu parlé de lÎles de la quarantaine. Nous avons passé une journée remplie d'émotions, de beaux paysages et une très belle animation .Ces comédiens dhabillés en costume d'époque nous font revivre cette période ou la maladie a frappé très fort et des familles complètes, d'outre-mer ont été décimées par ces maladies infectueuses. La petite croisière effectuée par la famille Lachance est très agréable et très sécuritaire. .A voir et à vivre absolument dans cette belle région de Chaudières- Appalaches au Québec. seulement à 40 minutes de la belle ville de Québec.Daniel de Jonquière