North Hatley

North Hatley sits at the northern tip of Lake Massawippi and grew as a summer colony from the 1890s, when wealthy families from the American south discovered it via a rail connection and built large houses on the slopes; a local story holds that some chose Quebec because it had no civil war memories, and Prohibition later added its own appeal. Several of the houses became inns. The village is small, English-speaking in a French region, with a theatre, galleries and a shore lined with boathouses. Autumn colour on the surrounding hills is the region's strongest season.

History

Many of the first settlers around North Hatley were Loyalist farmers from New England who left after the American Declaration of Independence in 1776, and the village owes most of its great houses and its architecture to wealthy summer residents, mostly Americans from south of the Mason-Dixon line (Wikipedia, North Hatley).

What's there

• The summer houses - large 1890s to 1920s residences on the slopes.
• The lake head - Massawippi with boathouses along the shore.
• The village centre - galleries, a theatre and inns in a few streets.
• The autumn hills - Eastern Townships colour around the lake.

When to go

June to October, with late September and early October the peak for colour; the village fills then and accommodation books ahead. Winter is quiet with several places closed.

Good to know

The village is very small and walked in twenty minutes. It is expensive, with the inns priced accordingly. Autumn weekends bring heavy traffic on narrow roads.

Nearby

Sherbrooke lies north; Lake Memphremagog is west.

Key facts