The former Juchereau-Duchesnay manor estate, where the poet Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau (1912-1943) spent the last years of his life, is on sale for $2.8 million. It is “one of the rare complete seigneuries on the Quebec market,” proudly announces the real estate broker responsible for the sale of the 23-hectare land located in Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier, around thirty kilometers northwest of Quebec.
The pink granite stone manor was erected in 1848. Its massive silhouette is overall modest if we compare it to the stately residences built at the same time such as the Papineau manor, in Montebello, or that of the Campbells, in Rouville. “We are dealing more with a large rural house,” explains historian Benoît Grenier, of the University of Sherbrooke. It is a classic “Quebec” house which does not borrow from the fashionable shapes and styles of the time. »
The renovation of the manor of the former lordship of Fossambault has transformed what was once a rustic dwelling into a luxurious residence. “It was impossible to heat,” relates the biographer of Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau, Michel Biron. The mansion was prestigious, but more or less comfortable. However, it was magnificent with its tall pine trees and the river flowing just behind. »
Monastic life
Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau spent most of his childhood in the shadow of the manor, in the middle of his father’s rabbit farms, who played ” gentleman-farmer “. The Montreal poet then stayed there occasionally before settling there permanently in 1940, at the age of 28.
The return to the land of the young man suffering from a heart injury comes three years after the failure of his only collection of poetry, published in 1937. From Saint-Denys Garneau leads a monastic life, far from the excitement of Montreal and Quebec. “At the very end, his parents decided to join him because they were worried about his mental health… He had suicidal tendencies,” explains Michel Biron.
The period is still happy for the outdoor enthusiast, who practices canoeing, skiing and walking in the forest. “He was not prostrate!” He did little projects around the house, even if they rarely led to anything concrete, they were flights of fancy, whims. »
The poet’s isolation accelerates at the turn of his thirties. “He stopped writing to his friends and in the end, he asked them not to come see him anymore,” relates Michel Biron. He sometimes slept on a small island located in the middle of the Jacques-Cartier River when there were visitors at the manor, to be even more isolated. » The misanthrope also died of a heart attack on his return from this island refuge in 1943, after rowing against the tide. His body was found the next day by a schoolgirl, at the mouth of a stream flowing just three kilometers from the mansion.
-Nostalgia
The seigneurial estate of Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier nourished the imagination of Anne Hébert (1916-2000), the second cousin of Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau, who spent the summer at the chalet family of the Héberts, located not far from there. “She had a geographical, mental, I would even say phantasmagorical proximity to the places,” explains her biographer, Marie-Andrée Lamontagne.
The novelist established in Paris in the mid-1960s will keep vivid memories of evenings spent playing cards on the veranda of the mansion. In 1973, she considered for a moment the purchase of the old family property by drawing on the proceeds from her successful novel. Kamouraska published three years earlier. The operation was to be financed by opening the site to tourists.
“You imagine Anne Hébert as a tourist guide, it’s unthinkable! exclaims Mme Lamontagne. She would have become a curious beast that people came to see. It was a dream and she quickly gave it up. » The size of the mansion also led the novelist to pass her turn. “I would die of fear alone in there and that would risk depressing me,” wrote Anne Hébert in 1973.
Heritage
The lordship of Fossambault, which formerly surrounded the Juchereau-Duchesnay manor, was granted by Louis XIV in 1693. However, it was necessary to wait until the beginning of the 19th century.e century for this forest territory located in the mountainous hinterland of Quebec to be developed by settlers of Irish origin.
The manor was built at the very end of the seigneurial regime, which was officially abolished in 1854. This is not a unique case, as historian Benoît Grenier points out. “A lot of mansions were built during this period,” he says. They certainly bear witness to the continuity of the seigneurial way of life beyond abolition. »
In 2014, the site of the manor was cited by the Municipality of Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier, which must therefore ensure its protection. In addition to the residence, the old estate which has been put up for sale includes a grain dryer, a maple grove and the ruins of an ordinary mill.
To watch on video
Related News :