Around Montreal, there are many historical parks, and Fort Chambly is well known for that, so we couldn’t pass this opportunity to get there.
Where is Fort Chambly located?
Fort Chambly is located in the municipality of Chambly, 35 km south of Montréal, at exit 115 on Highway 30 or exit 22 on Highway 10.
Here is the address you can directly put into your GPS:
2 De Richelieu Street
Chambly QC J3L 2B9
When should you get there in 2021?
May 22 to June 20
Wednesday to Sunday and holidays, from 10 am to 5 pm*
June 21 to September 6
Every day, from 10 am to 5 pm*
September 7 to October 11
Wednesday to Sunday and holidays, from 10 am to 5 pm*
* Last admission: 45 minutes before closing time
For the 2022 season, go directly to their website to learn more about it.
How much are the fees?
For an adult, it is $7.90, but if you have the Park Discovery Canada, it will be free (for a family and a year, it will cost you $139.40)
Fort Chambly History:
In 1603, Samuel de Champlain made his first trip to New France. Accompanied by St. Malo merchant Gravé du Pont, he visited the Tadoussac fur-trading post set up in 1600. Once they had concluded their trade, the two Frenchmen headed up the St. Lawrence River to the rapids at Lachine and explored down the Iroquois River, later to become the Richelieu River.
This expedition convinced Champlain that France had to have a permanent base in the St. Lawrence Valley since the river led to the heart of the country and would open the way to new lands to supply the fur trade. Thus, in 1608, Champlain founded Quebec, marking a new era of marketing and colonization.
The French first needed traders and intermediaries from the Montagnais, Algonquin, and Huron Indian nations to run the fur trade. Next, they had to gain the confidence of the Indians and weave ties of business with them. In 1609, Champlain consolidated his alliances when he participated in a raid against the Iroquois. He paddled up the Iroquois River and left an exciting description of the rapids at Chambly:
“The approach to the rapids is a sort of lake into which the water flows down, and it is about three leagues in circumference. Nearby are meadows where no Indians live because of the wars. There is very little water at the rapids, but it flows with great swiftness, and there are many rocks and boulders so that the Indians cannot go up by water, but they run them very nicely on the way back. All this region is very level and full of forests, vines and butternut trees. No Christian has ever visited this land, and we had all the misery of the world trying to paddle the river upstream.”
On July 14, Champlain arrived at a vast lake to which he gave his name: Lake Champlain. His first encounter with the Iroquois was to the south of the lake. However, the superiority of the Europeans’ arms enabled the French and their allies who come out victorious from this. The first battle in what was to become a long series of conflicts with the Iroquois.
Champlain had just opened the way for the man who would later establish the first military post at the foot of the rapids at Chambly: Jacques de Chambly, captain of a detachment of the Carignan-Salières Regiment.
Over the centuries, most of the wars involving New France and the 13 colonies began in Europe. However, the war is known as the Seven Years’ War, which ended in the Conquest and was an exception.
The first clash of this war took place in America, in the Ohio Valley, on July 3, 1754. A detachment of French, Canadians, and Indians took Fort Necessity.
In Europe, France and England’s war started in 1756 and played out on various fronts: America, the Antilles, West Africa, and the East Indies. It was a war for world supremacy.
In America, the conflict was over territorial expansion. The English colonies were starting to feel the squeeze on the land they saw as theirs. They wanted to move out towards the west but ran into the borders of New France. Therefore England decided to take drastic measures to chase the French off the continent.
One of the three English offensives followed the tactical route up the Hudson River into Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River. Fort Chambly was square in the middle of the conflict. It also provided supplies to forts Carillon and Saint-Frederic to the south of Lake Champlain.
The British forces, superior in number, moved in on the French from all sides. On September 18, 1759, they captured Quebec. On September 1, 1760, they took Fort Chambly after having captured all the French forts along the Richelieu River and Lake Champlain. Finally, on September 8, 1760, New France capitulated.
The Seven Years’ War closed with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Under the terms of the treaty, France turned over most of its possessions in America, marking the beginning of British reign in Canada.
After the Conquest in 1760, the British moved into Fort Chambly. At the time, the 13 English colonies to the south were becoming increasingly prosperous and, with the hope of becoming independent, decided to unite forces to throw off the yoke of the British. But, instead, the threat of invasion swept over Canada.
The Americans started their attack on Canada in early September 1775. They occupied Fort Chambly over the winter of 1775-1776. However, after their defeat at Quebec in the spring, the American army had to retreat towards the south. The British once again took over the post at Chambly.
In 1812, war broke out once again between Canada and the United States. The British sent in troops and built a military complex around Fort Chambly, which included a guardhouse and barracks for the infantry, the artillery, the cavalry, and the Board of Ordnance. During the war, up to 6000 soldiers were stationed at the Fort.
When the war was over in 1814, fort activities progressively diminished. The British occupied the place sporadically and then abandoned the Fort in 1860. Finally, in 1876, the military installations at Chambly were all auctioned off, except for the Fort itself and the guardhouse.
Have you noticed the small stone building, with white columns, at the edge of Fort Chambly park? This is the guardhouse, one of the last architectural reminders of an imposing British military camp built 1812 on what was called the king’s suburb.
Following the Conquest of 1760, British troops used Fort Chambly to guard against future enemy invasions from the south. However, in the 19th century, advances in transport meant that it became possible to get around Chambly; the Fort then ceased to be a proper defensive installation. In this context, the old French fortification would be dedicated only to the storage of material.
However, in 1812, a conflict broke out between England and the United States. As a result, the colonial authorities judged it necessary to equip themselves with installations to accommodate large military forces and their equipment. An analysis concluded that Chambly was the best place to station troops in preparation for deployments to strategic spots.
For this purpose, about 40 buildings were erected on the land east of the Fort. This new military complex, indeed a tiny village, provided for the lodging of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, and it provided all the medical and administrative services required by the troops. During the 1812 conflict, as many as 6,000 soldiers stayed at this base! One can imagine the social and economic impact of this occupation on the tiny village of Chambly.
The military camp would experience two other phases of intensive occupation after the War of 1812: during the Rebellions of 1837-1838 and the War of Secession. However, the military development would result in Chambly losing its strategic importance, and the complex will be dismantled in 1869. During its existence, the Chambly military camp was one of the first places in Canada designed exclusively to serve a population living in the armed professions.
What can you see inside the Fort?
-Exhibition about illegal or not Trading between Montreal and Albany
Through this exhibition, welcome to the unseen world of smuggling in the 18th century! The French-owned East India Company held the exclusive right to the beaver fur trade in New France.
Find out how the merchants of Montreal got around this privilege. Under the noses of the authorities, part of the colony’s beaver trade made its way to the British colony of New York in exchange for English products. This illegal trade was based on a well-organized network of relationships between the settlers of European origin and the Indigenous Nations. Smuggling is more than a simple commercial activity. It allowed the flow of information and helped maintain alliances with the Indigenous peoples of the region and the strategic balance between the colonies. It was also the story of relationships between the different populations of an immense territory.
-Exhibition about Mr. Dion, the savior of the Fort:
Discover an exhibition to showcase the efforts to preserve Fort Chambly by a visionary man named Joseph-Octave Dion. Filled with the burning desire to save a silent witness to the French presence in Canada, Dion begins, in 1866, to do all he can to ensure the Fort’s restoration.
-The Fort presents thematic exhibitions that chronicle the history of New France.
If you live in Montreal, it’s an excellent opportunity to get out from the town and discover more history about the Fort and the place.
