•  Lakeshore Tourism

•  Mountain Tourism

Lakeshore Tourism

Traditional attractions, revolving around nature, formed the first period of tourism in the Eastern Townships, from the 1850's to the 1960's. Lake Brome, Lake Memphremagog, Lake Massawippi and Lake Lyster helped make lakeshore tourism popular in the region. This type of tourism was seasonal and often involved tourists purchasing lakefront property and building cottages. During the 1850's, the majority of Eastern Township cottagers were Americans, as they had easy access to the region due to the good condition of American roads. The extension of the railway into the area allowed a wider variety of tourists, including Canadians, to access the Eastern Townships and build their own cottages along the shoreline.

While vacationing in the Eastern Townships, tourists were drawn to activities like swimming, canoeing, sailing, fishing and sunbathing, which allowed them to relax and get away from busy city life. Due to the increase in private ownership of lakefront property, lakes were becoming less attainable to the general public. Demand for cottage land on the lakeshore was so great that local farmers were making huge profits by selling off parts of their property to tourists. With the development of heated condominiums on the lakes of the Eastern Townships in the 1970's came the extension of the tourist industry into the winter months as well as eighty percent of the lakefront being privately owned.

Similar to lakeshore tourism, mountain based attractions were initially only available to tourists during the spring and summer months. Mountain based tourism was linked with the appeal of the lakeshore because most of the resorts established in the Eastern Townships that offered mountain climbing, hiking, bird watching, camping, picnicking and nature walks, were situated on the waterfront and were extremely popular.

The first resort hotel in the Eastern Townships was the Mountain House, which was established in 1851 by A.C. Jennings and as it was located at the base of Owl’s Head Mountain on Lake Memphremagog, it was only accessible by water. To combat this problem, the Mountain Maid ferry was available to take tourists from Newport, Vermont at 7:30am and return them at 6:00pm each day. This resort was so appealing because of the spectacular view the summit of Owl’s Head Mountain offered of Montreal, the Adirondacks and the Green Mountains, that could be reached by guided tour. The trip up the mountain allowed tourists to explore nature and gave artists inspiration for their paintings. The Mountain House also provided tourists with boats so they could explore the wonders of Lake Memphremagog such as Minnow’s Island, Skinner’s Island and Cave and Long Island with its popular Balance Rock, which stood on one point. These water attractions, as well as the resort itself, were soon available to tourists during the winter months with the help of sleighs over the frozen lake. The Mountain House burned down in the 1890's, but its legacy continues in the many other mount