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Mont Saint-Hilaire Biosphere Reserve

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Explore Otterburn Park

  • Richelieu riverbank at sunset, a man fishing, and two other people on the banks of the river
  • Railroad cars on the tracks above the Richelieu River; ducks in the water
  • Old black-and-white postcard with six small photographs of activities from the period; the inscriptions read “Otterburn Park, St Hilaire P.Q., Colonel B.F Campbell proprietor”
  • Old black-and-white photograph of families next to boat rentals on the banks of the Richelieu River
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Photo: Jean Claude Gagnon

Photo: Frederick Brault

Photo: Société d'histoire de Belœil-Mont-Saint-Hilaire

Photo: Société d'histoire de Belœil-Mont-Saint-Hilaire

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Explore Otterburn Park

Formerly a First Nations fur trading post, and part of the Saint-Hilaire parish, Otterburn Park seceded and became an amusement park for employees of the Grand Trunk Railway. As early as 1885, families from Montreal would come every weekend to Otterburn Park to enjoy the playgrounds, bandstands and dance halls. The river was also a vast recreational area, with a canoeing club. The site was officially named Otterburn Park with its own territory, separate from that of Saint-Hilaire, in 1953. Otterburn Park is the only municipality in the Richelieu Valley with an English name. The municipality was Anglophone to start with, but has slowly become more French-speaking. Located between the Richelieu River and the mountain, Otterburn Park developed over the years, and almost reached the boundaraies of its territory, offering a natural, rural and attractive setting for and by its residents. Today, they must decide on the future of the last agricultural lands.