fort chambly national historic site

We had a wonderful time this week-end at (Le festival de la bière de Chambly). The site is beside the Richelieu river and canal. The site is big with lots of beer to taste, good singers. It is a super place to go.

Fort Chambly itself is an attractive little fort, with large grassy areas around popular with picnickers. The views are nothing special, but pleasant nonetheless. The fort itself contains a museum which brings the strategic importance of the fort to life, detailing the campaigns in the surrounding area, and the skirmishes at the fort itself. The museum is well presented, although there are few artefacts or multimedia exhibits. It is great for an hour or two's visit, but won't stretch much beyond.

Chambly is a pretty little town with interesting history and historic waterways, forts,stone buildings... many places to see.

Parking was horrible. Hardly anyone in the fort. Could not get parking because everyone was laying on the grass around the fort. My son liked the treasure hut for kids and getting a army dog tag of fort Chambly at the end. Gift shop was closed. I wanted to check it out.

This fort is well restored. The museum inside the fort brings to life the strategic importance of this fort and its role in the various alliances, skirmishes and wars that took place for control of the territory. Those involved included the French, Aboriginal tribes (e.g. Iroquois), Dutch settlements in Schenectady, the English, Americans etc. If you like history, it is a must visit. The fort is not very big, but events are ongoing. A good place for children with a place to try on soldier's uniforms. Very picturesque especially on a beautiful summer day with lots of green space. The green space contains a monument erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution for an American Revolutionary War General who died from small pox at this site in 1776. After the fort, we visited another nearby historical site, the Chambly Canal (until the mid 1800's it served to connect Montreal to New York) and had refreshments in the many little restaurants in the town.

What a lot of fighting went on between the arrival of The English and French to North America and the final acquisition of Canada by the British. The fort gives a self guided review of who did what when and where. It was interesting to see the ties with Fort Ticonderoga that we visited a few years ago and to Massachusetts, our home state. The fort gives a beautiful view of Chambly Basin and the Richelieu River. The adjoining park is a beautiful place to sit, walk, or bicycle.

The main walls of the fort are still there but the insides have been entirely gutted and replaced with quite high quality museum exhibits on the fort and area. We spent about 2 hours and covered the whole thing, including reading most of the panels. At under 6$ it's priced well, but may not be quite interactive enough to hold young children for too long. The frequent tours and demonstrations are announced by PA and cover a great range of topics. They are also well put together and presented with lots of good information, even to me who has toured quite a few larger forts. The two downsides are that it's not more historically restored. You feel like you're in a museum so no happy imagining of fort life. And they keep resorting to French. I didn't mind as I could generally follow along, but my date couldn't and therefore couldn't follow any of it. This includes the ones scheduled to be in English. I partially understand this given the majority of the people interested in watching were francophone, but it also definitely wasn't an optional switch back to French. They just started in French every time. I'm happy to schedule my day to hit the English time slots but finding them running things in French at times held out to be the English version was rather disappointing. They should at least be checking to see if anyone requires it in English in the English time slot before jumping back into French just because they spot French audience members. I don't expect English in the French time slot, so I can see how for many people French in the English slot would sour the experience.

Fort Chamnbly is located in the picturesque town of Chambly and is easily accessible. It is only about a 30 minute drive from Montreal. There is a parking lot in front and it is a short walk to the old fort which sits on the Richelieu River. The fort was built by the French in the early 18th century. During the continual strife in North America during that period, it was taken by the British and, later, by the Americans. At some point it was abandoned and fell into a state of disrepair. Toward the end of the 19th century a private citizen named Dion began the effort to restore it. We should all be thankful that he did because it is an important piece of Canadian history and, today, is in excellent condition. There is an admission fee and a gift shop inside. There are two floors with exhibits which give an insight within the period during which the fort was built. Included in the exhibits are a couple of old cannon. There is a video in both French & English which gives a history of the fort. Archeologists have uncovered a latrine which is located next to where the cannons are located. On the day that we visited the fort, there was a presentation on how the French soldier of that period was dressed. A volunteer came from the audience and one of the employees dressed him in a French uniform of the 18 century and explained each part of it. This was my favorite attraction in the area when we visited Montreal and I would recommend it to anyone, especially those who are history buffs and enjoy visiting places such as this.

Great park along the river, with easy trails (pedestrians and bikes), ample free parking spaces, nice little downtown not too far from the Fort, with lots of restaurants and little shops (including bike rentals). The Fort in itself is much smaller than I expected but nicely maintained. To a certain extent though, it is so nicely cleaned up and modernized inside as a museum and expo place that you cannot feel or picture what it must have been really like back then. There is a fee to visit the Fort and a schedule for activities and tours, although you can visit on your own. All signs are both in english and french, and we did not have any problem with anyone helping us in either language.

Really pretty park. Unfortunately the Fort was closed the day of our visit. We still had a nice time walking around the Fort and along the river. Lots of wildlife to see.

Fort Chambly should be much friendlier than it is. I thought that Quebec employees of a Canadian historical site had been taught to value their English-speaking visitors. Obviously some of them are trying to impose Separatist values at every opportunity. With my Scottish accent, I am often mistaken for a Canadian from the English section of the Maritimes. When I inquired about presentations in English, people snickered. Even though the employee at the front desk knew that I wanted to hear the English versions, announcements were made ONLY IN FRENCH, and when I went back to inquire about the presentations, they said that it was announced and over. I INSISTED. I speak three languages, so I am not ignorant. I just wanted to hear the history of this fort that was a destination of choice as history intrigues me. The French were beaten on the Plains of Abraham near Quebec City. Will the French ever get over it? What on earth do they value?? I came to learn about the historic fort and its people. What I learned is that ignorance and arrogance have no place in what should be a welcoming destination. Who is supervising this operation? IS THE BI-LINGUAL GOVERNMENT REQUIREMENT ONLY COMPULSORY IN THE OTHER PROVINCES??????? I

This is a very historical place,im trying to imagine myself being a wife of a very brave soldier while im inside the fort,the fort is really stunning and inside is simply gorgeous!spending a day to explore the fort and the neighbourhood is worth of your time,i admire the people during those years of their hard work and not to question their abilities when it comes to art and architecture.

The rebuilt fort gives a realistic feeling to life 200 years ago on an important route between Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence. Signage is very clear, the park staff is friendly, dogs are welcome in the park area and the setting is gorgeous.

Very cute charming city about 30 min from Montreal. We had a great day yesterday , walking at the Canal of Chambly, good restaurants, friendly people. The Fort of Chambly: not worth to go inside.

The fort was great! Upon our arrival, we assisted an information session on the history of beer making in Chambly. The guide was very competent and knew what he was talking about, he also tested us at the end on the content of his presentation in the form of a game which was pretty well done. Then we walked through the museum as they show you different events in time when it came to historic battles between the french, the english and iroquois. It was like $5.65 to get in but it was totaly worth it and a great way to learn about the history of Chambly.