Wendake

The Huron-Wendat were displaced from their homeland near Georgian Bay in the 1650s and eventually settled here near Quebec City; Wendake is their community today, with around two thousand residents. The nation built and runs the site itself: a museum opened in 2008 covering Wendat history and material culture, a hotel attached to it, and a reconstructed longhouse where visitors can sleep as well as tour. The Notre-Dame-de-Lorette chapel of 1730 holds silver and objects brought from the old mission. Sagamité, a corn and meat soup, and other Wendat dishes are served in the restaurant.

History

Archaeologists have found 16th-century Wendat villages north of Lake Ontario, where the people formed as a distinct group before moving to the Georgian Bay country they called Wendake; between 1634 and 1650 epidemics and wars broke up the confederation, whose numbers fell from some 20,000 to 30,000 to a few hundred. About 300 survivors moved first to Île d'Orléans in 1651, then to Quebec City in 1668, Beauport, Notre-Dame-de-Foy and L'Ancienne-Lorette, and in 1697 settled for good at Lorette, today's Wendake (Wikipedia, Wendake).

What's there

• The reconstructed longhouse - a full-scale building open for tours and overnight stays.
• The Huron-Wendat Museum - the nation's own account of its history.
• The 1730 chapel - silver and objects carried from the earlier mission.
• The Kabir Kouba falls - a gorge and waterfall in the community.

When to go

Year-round; the museum and hotel operate all year and winter has its own programming. Summer brings a powwow. Longhouse overnight stays need booking well ahead.

Things to know

This is a living community, not a heritage park, and residential areas are ordinary streets. The longhouse experience is basic by design. Some programming runs in French only.

Nearby

Quebec City lies south; Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré is east.

Key facts