The Price Family Reunion: Quebec City and The Saguenay

Chateau Frontenac towers over the old town.

Arriving in Quebec on Tuesday morning, via Porter airlines out of Billy Bishop Airport (on the Island off Toronto) was a delight. My destination was 61 Rue St Louis inside the walled city of Old Quebec. My friend Jill was in Germany this week and her 9 bedroom home was all mine.

I spent the afternoon in the National Archives at Laval University doing research into my Quebec family ancestry, turning up a couple of good leads. Maybe not everyones idea of a fun afternoon but I loved it!

With a scant 30 minutes to spare, I arrived back at the house to shower and change before the cocktail party to meet the Price Family Saguenay trip group at the Auberge St Antoine kicked off.

The Auberge Saint Antoine

The afternoon had turned up the heat in the old town, regardless I walked down to the Auberge through the quiet streets, it was such a pleasure and I felt great swinging along the cobbles, all dolled up!!

Registration tag...all four coloured dots means I'm related to everyone !!!

As soon as I arrived Evan Price was on hand to introduce me and Sally, Deb and Mimi made me feel very welcome. I immediately met Richard, Cathy and Ella from the UK, who turned out to be the Phillips/Bethune/Price relations I’d hoped to meet. Richard Price an ex BA pilot, wife Cathy and daughter Ella hail from Dorset,England.

From San Francisco, Jonathan and Betsy Price both made me feel right at home. Hugh and Deb from Vancouver, have two beautiful daughters while Deb’s sister Sally is married to Michael, with more gorgeous girls lives in Toronto not far from me.

The cocktail party was swinging while everyone mingled then later the bulk of the group left and I stayed to have dinner with Evan, Brian, Jack, Tim, Derek, Greville, Hart, Cinnie and Betsy and Jonathan Price.

The Price men are charming and Cinnie is fun, the complete life and soul of the party. Evan Price is the master of organisation hosting the event in his wonderful Auberge Saint Antoine, Brian lives in Melbourne with Meg his Aussie bride, Jack is with the International Rescue Committee in Thailand, Tim Price lives in Montreal with Denise and kids, Derek is a fine gentleman, an elder statesman of the family, both handsome and charming, Greville is a sweetie married to a complete character from Edinburgh so I'm told, Hart and Jonathan and Betsy rounded out the group. We ate in one of the little library alcoves off the bar.

Walking home through the town later, taking the funiculaire, then strolling past the shops of Rue St Louis I enjoyed a lovely sense of independence and freedom that travelling on your own brings, one I’d not had for quite a while as Pip and I really are such a team these days. I hoped he was enjoying his time alone on his travels in the US as much.

Back at Jill’s house, though huge and old, it welcomes me like an old friend each time I walk through the door, sounds crazy but its thick stone walls steeped in the towns history make me feel safe and secure, even on my own with all those empty rooms around me. Next morning I locked it up again and took a cab to the hotel, to meet the group at the bus for our 8am take off.  We are heading north to the Saguenay, the historic area famed for its lumber and paper mills of the 19th century where William Price earned the title of Pere du Saguenay. I am travelling with a group of William's descedants to revisit the towns and mills he founded and monuments commemorating three generations of  men named William Price! I am included due to an ancient family connnection. William's wife Jane Stewart Price was the younger sister of my GGGrandmother Henrietta Stewart Phillips. Henrietta's granddaughter Henrietta (Stretta) Keane Bethune married William Prices second youngest son 'Ned' Edward George Price who ran the UK Price concerns.  Richard pictured below is their Great Grandson.

Richard and Ella at first rest stop. Group stretching their legs. Truck in Riverbend.

 Barns and Hay bales on flats before Lac St Jean.

The bus headed up through the Laurentides Park to a picnic lunch lakeside at Lac St Jean, the huge lake that is the source of the Saguenay. We were staying the night tonight in Jonquiere.

Map of the Saguenay towns and Lac St Jean. 

The air was warm, the beach long and sandy and when I dipped a toe into the lake it was very pleasant too. I was sorely tempted to swim but time was limited and it really didn’t seem to be the thing to do! Its hard to remember that the rest of the world doesn't throw off their clothes and dive in when confronted with water, salty or fresh, the way we Kiwi's do!

Saguenay Tour Group at Lac St Jean lunch stop.

We ate from individual picnic boxes on lawn and steps that lead to the beach. I would have been very happy to spend a couple of weeks in this tanquil spot.

Next stop was Kenogami (rhymes with monogamy)......The site of the large paper milll and heart of the Saguenay Paper industry in the day. We toured the old company town, curving streets ranged with lovely little houses, beautifully restored and maintained by their current owners.

This area is also famous for its wild blueberries, smaller and more intensely flavoured than the big commercial ones we are used too.

Left to right: Source of the Saguenay. L'isle Maligne.

Company house in Kenogami. Sir Williams last residence at Kenogami.

Blueberry house on L'isle Maligne. Company workers boarding house Kenogami.

We pulled up at Park Price beside the Paper mill to attend the unveiling of a plaque dedicated to Sir William Price and family. We strolled down the lane between huge stone lions atop pillars at the gates. Sir William died in a landslide at this spot in 1924, now his memorial and Price Park had been renovated by the town. Evan did the honors with the plaque and spoke to the crowd as did the local govt minister, mayor and councillor. (All speeches were in french )

Left to Right. Gates to Price Park, mill at left. Lion Gateposts.

Plaque at Gates. Sir Williams memorial. View towards dam.

Evan delivering speech at Price Park. Revealing Plaque.

Derek and Tim Price. Annabelle Price.

Joan surrounded by granddaughters. William'

s great grandchildren. The family.

Next we toured the Paper Mill now owned by Abitibi-Bowater, where paper produced is mainly used for flyers. Trying to get to grips with the chemical and mechanical pulp used to make paper we toured the whole process from wo to go and it was fascinating. Walking through various sections following the pulp as it was turned from mush into paper then stretched and pressed out on huge rollers until it was pristine white and shiny then rolled and packed for shipping.

Left to right. Views from Mill at Kenogami.

Paper rolling off the production line. Evan viewing samples of pulp and clay used in papermaking.

Machinery inside mill.

Evan and Annabelle at front, Richard and Ella behind.

Annabelle signing workers glove and testing finished paper.

Dispenser for gloves, sealant, tape and glasses etc. Huge hooks on production line.

Later we dined at Villa Pachon, Sir William Price’s residence in Kenogami. We were greeted with champagne and framboise cocktail in the garden, then glorious home smoked salmon with maple syrup sauce, Wapiti with asparagus, tiny potatoes and blueberries, then Blueberries and ice-cream. Later I opted not to hit he bar with others and hit the hay instead. A good choice as an early start was the call for the morning. Though just minutes into my room I was doubled up with pain and thought I was having a heart attack!!!!! sanity prevailed and I deduced it was just a severe case of heartburn. Being a good girl-guide I had a little magic something to fix it but spent a few very uncomfortable hours while the pain subsided!!!

Villa Pachon.

Map of Saguenay drawn on buffalo skin hangs in cabin room. Dining Room. Portrait of Sir William Price in drawing room.

Back on the bus by 8. 30am our first stop was at the Price Museum where we took in memorabilia from the mills and the 3 William Price's lives around the Saguenay.

Plaque dedicated to Sir William. Original painting of a Mill.

Company China. Petons (Bills paid to Mill and lumber workers to be used at company store)

Old church houses Price Museum. Chalk board from Milll. Stained glass window dedicated to Sir William.

Back on the bus we headed for Chicoutimi (pronounced shic-koo-tami) where we visited the towering Price monument.

Price Monument in Chicoutimi

Next stop was Manoir Price, the recently rescued and restored home of the Price Family at Chicoutimi, now in its new role as youth hostel. Its red curving roof and shuttered windows overlook the basin used by loggers back in the day.

Manoir Price.

 Blanche Maison and the Pulperie Museum. Blanche Maison teeters mid stream, the river runs straight

through this little white house and spills out its front door!. The only survivor of the deluge, a great and powerful flood in the 90’s that devastated the whole area.

Maison Blanche in Chichoutimi

Up stream from Maison Blanche we visited the Pulperie. The Pulp works now restored as a museum and gallery.

The Pulperie in its heyday. William Price 1

A model of the pulp works at Chicoutimi. Sheets of Pulp.

The drive along the Saguenay, toward Tadoussac at its mouth, became more scenic the closer we got. The Marguerite river and many lakes and rivers along the way, backed by suddenly soaring hills wreathed in cloud gave a drama to the landscape.

First Trading Post, Tadoussac Hotel, Gallery with Beluga sculpture.

Tadoussac restaurants and local greasy spoon in the red van and village cafe.

At Tad (as its fondly called by the locals) we were dropped off at the grand old Tadoussac Hotel, front and centre in the bay, then I headed off with Alistair and Greville Price to visit Pam McCarter at Dufferin House for a quick tour of the lovely old timber house,( previously the summer cottage of Lord Dufferin, Governor General in 1872), its rooms opening onto a veranda overhanging the cliff and bay. Kind Michael McCarter drove me up to Mike Skutezky’s cottage, (Mike is another Phillips/Bethune cousin who lives in Toronto) a cute Austrian style cottage opposite the golf course, were I spent the night.

Skutezky cottage.

The Price family has historically summered over at Tadoussac, still associated with about 12 lovely old houses in the village, however these days there is a split with half the contemporary families summer homes located across the river and a little north at Métis, purported to have superior tennis courts and an eighteen hole golf course! There is a lot of jocular rivalry between these two factions with a tennis tournament mooted for this summer between the two villages.

After a quick shower and change I called Mike for a lift back to the cocktail party at Dufferin House and quickly mingled with guests.

Sally and Michael, Dufferin House, Jack, Hugh and Tim.

Pams flowers. Cinnie, Micheal McCarter and Tory. Tadoussac Bay

Earl chats to Cathy  from UK.

Rekindling old memories. The bay from Dufferin House.

Price and I strolled along the waterfront to dinner later at Lal’s house which was quite fab…. Set right on the rocks of the bay. We dined on quiche and salad, drank lots of wine, and good times were had by all, then wandered over to Rufus Price's house ( Fletcher Cottage) for après drinks as a full Moon rose and the north star appeared after a lovely sunset in the west. Earlier a solitary bird had chimed across the river while we ate, its song so like the Tui I nearly cried! All in NZ know how utterly uniquely kiwi that sound is and to hear a similar bell like song at sunset was rather haunting and wonderful.

View of Saguenay Fjord form Lal's verandah and Lal's house from path.

Back at Fletcher Cottage, a big old wooden house, Rufus showed us the haunted bedroom, letters written by a GG on the timber wallboards, a the rather fab old zinc bath and many family treasures then later drove me home to my little cottage in the trees.

Tadoussac is a lovely place, with a graceful curving bay leading to a headland of spectaular smooth rock formations that slide into the depts of the fjord. I am told the water in the fjord is about 48F…eeek!! Evidently there is a lake close by for swimming if the sea is too chilly. Cinnie mentioned trips up the Saguenay in boats to whale watch and sightsee. Hiking, fishing, tennis and golf are all catered for in this picturesque village.

Next morning the same chiming birdsong woke me in the very early dawn...the sun was up just after 4am......so deciding I needed a cup of tea and something else I raided the pantry. I found flour, sugar, salt and lemon juice.....which spelled crepes with lemon and sugar for brekkie. Whipping up a batch for one...I sat outside in a Muskoka chair to eat my crepes and revelled in the silence around me.

Crepes with sugar and lemon for brekkie.

I had my opportunity to see the little white Beluga whales, a bit like a snowy porpoise, at play the next day on a two hour trip(link to video of the area) into the St Lawrence, We also sighted a Minke whale along with some seals on this very wide portion of the river. I couldn’t resist buying Mac at Beluga whale of his own at the store at the wharf.

Lighthouse in channel off Tadoussac, Belugas and poster of whales of the Saguenay.

The trip back down the St Lawrence through Charlevoix area of Quebec  was the most scenic yet. Gorgeous coastline, quaint french villages even a Chateau Frontenac look-alike Manoir Richelieu with a 27 hole golf course made me want to bring Pip back here soon. We passed Massif, the resort that runs down to the river, where we skied at New Year in 2007 with Jim Bob and Julia, one of the coldest days skiing I’ve ever had made perfect by a fab lunch and great slopes. Particular to the highway are the new Moose (or game) gates interspersed at intervals to allow the game to cross the highway safely through under passes.

FAIRMONT LE MANOIR RICHELIEU

We arrived back at the Auberge St Antoine at about 3. I hopped in a cab and went back to Rue St Louis where the old house welcomed me again. I took a quick walk around the town before getting ready for drinks back at the Auberge. Tonight the other 210ish reunionistas were massing for cocktails. A huge family tree had been posted on the wall of the Stewart connections alongside the Price tree. Catching up with Mike Price briefly, I headed off to dinner at Toast with Cinnie, and Richard and Cathy. We’d had fab weather for our tour but once enounced at Toast the heavens opened, though dining al fresco we had a canvas roof above us and water cascaded down the sides while we dined on exquisite morsels of local fare. Après dinner Richard, Cathy, Ella and I headed for Chez Maurice, a nightclub set in the old home of Sir William Price on the Grande Allee, the main street which is now ranged by restaurants, clubs and bars.

Giving the secret password at the door!!! we were ushered through the velvet rope to our own roped off section complete with white leather seating. More drinks and dancing and the hours whisked away, at one point my dance partner threw me around the dance floor in a very Latin way (he was Italian!!) making me realise that it was a long time since I’d tripped the light fantastic and probably should have refused the invitation especially when I felt my hip go!!! And wondered if I’d be able to walk the next day!

Ella, Julie and Cathy at Chez Maurice.

Surprisingly I could and we set off early for a walking tour of the town culminating in a tour of Edifice Price, the Deco office tower built by Price Brothers, its foundation stones laid on Black Friday. A gorgeous example of building in that era, the quality and style lasting the test of time thus far, plus its the only tower built in the old town. Sadly this building heralded the downturn of the Price company which today has been swallowed up by Abitibi-Bowater.

Edifice Price in Old Quebec

Images below are of Foyer which features gilded ceilings, deco lights, black and white floors, canadian wildlilfe motifs cast in bronze around the walls. Upstairs thes motifs are carved into woodpanels like the beaver over the door in the Board Room. The top floors have recently been restored and all have marvellous views over the river and city. Our French Canadian guide is the chap with the orange umbrella.

The bronze sculpture of a Draveur poling logs on the river stands beside the building.

Lunch was a picnic at the Isle d’Orleans at the Saint Petronille winery . Catered by the Auberge Saint Antoine, we ate delicious salads and cold meats at long tables on the lawn looking down across the vines and across the St Lawrence to the Montmorency Falls. Richard, Cathy, Ella and I took a wander through the vineyard and discovered lovely wildflowers and briar roses.

That evening we met again en masse for the Gala Dinner at Pavilion Espace 400e on the waterfront in the old port. We sipped deep red Sangria on the terrace before being seated at tables set with white, navy and punches of lime green. Once again the Chefs at the Auberge outdid themselves with a starter presented in a shot glass of fois gras atop a cranberry relish and finished with a hydromel glee and served with buttery toasted brioche (still not sure what hydromel is but it tasted lovely). Next came a snow crab salad and lastly veal rump. Delish, only outdone by the death by chocolate dessert, delicate dabs of dark deliciousness ranged on a long plate.

Après dinner we all moved back to the Terrace to view a video installation by well known artist Robert Lepage called The Image Mill celebrating the history of the area projected on the worlds largest screen, a huge 600x30metre wall of silos at the port known at the Bunge (bungy) The installation, originally created to for the 400 year celebrations included whales spouting misted water as they breathed, smoke and steam from machinery, lasers, lighting and incredible progressions of colour and image manipulation. Technically and artistically it was a triumph and is played weekly all summer long.

The Bunge at Old Port Quebec

The Urban Cowboys struck up on the dance floor and just when I thought I’d head home I was persuaded to stay and dance. So I did, completely forgetting my aching hip and feet of the night before! Somehow I was amongst the very last to leave, wending my way through the lower town with Sally and Deb and co. much much later, too late to catch the funiculair up the hill and walk home I grabbed another cab from the hotel back to Rue St Louis. View a video of us viewing the midnight skyline at this link

Calling Pip at 2pm I caught him arriving back in Toronto after his drive from NYC. After two weeks working in the states, he’d played golf with his golfing mates in New Jersey that day then driven home via Watertown and Gananoque. Still sporting the flu and not much voice I let him gather Mac in from the car so they could go to bed.

Grande Famille Price 2010 and me!

Sunday morning and the Anglican Cathedral’s church bells rang out as we all headed for the Sunday service. Normally a congregation of about 40, we swelled the pews to over full this day. Louisa Blair gave a reading and sang in the choir, which was really lovely offering motets and hymns throughout the service. A highlight for me was finding my Great Great Great Aunts Mary Charlotte Phillips and Isabelle Allsop Phillips names engraved on the Endowment board inside the church indicating the spinster sisters had left money to the church. Their last home in the city had been at 42 St Genevieve, a short walk to church. First cousins to William and Jane Price's family, both ladies were left annuities for life by Evan John Price in his will. I speculate now, but possibly the endowment may have included interest accrued from this annuity. The Anglican church is where the Price, Stewart and Phillips families celebrated births, marriages and deaths. This seems to me a fitting outcome to a cousinly kindness. It was lovely to be a part of this service where our ancestors had met each Sunday.

The customary family photo was taken outside the church then the large group split for lunch. The UK Price family came back to Jill’s with me then we lunched at a cute place down the street finding a few other family groups already ensconced.

Sunday Lunch. Hymn book open at All things Bright and Beautiful with Canadian verse.

Canonball tree at 61 Rue St Louis. Lunch!

Leaving the famille Price I headed off for a swim at a local pool with Jill. It was sheer heaven to submerge in cold water, I’ve been swimming at the Y in Toronto and was missing this however somewhat hampered today with the knowledge that I had no time to do my hair for the evenings wind up events so had to keep my head above water.... which is always a bit of a bummer! Back in Auckland we call this the Kohi crawl, for all the old girls who glide around Kohimarama Beach with heads above the water preserving their do’s! We only got back to the house at 6, exactly when I was due for drinks so was glad I’d made that call!

Panache at the Auberge

That evening we had drinks and supper at the Auberge, this time we were seated in Panache. I dined with Merne Price, (Brian, Tim and Karma's Mum) whom I‘d sat next to the night before at the Gala dinner, Derek and Jill Price and their family and Ross Coan from the UK. A fab meal was followed by the game show This Price is right.. A take on the price as right with Evan hosting in a suitably gaudy jacket and his audience outfitted with keypads to vote. The family’s were split into four… the Willies, the Henry’s, The Arthur’s (I was popped in there) and the S.L.U.T.S (an endearing term used for husbands and wives of family members). Questions were gleaned from the 200 day countdown documents we’d received leading up to the event. Led by UK Richard the Arthur’s won the day!

This Price is Right!

The weekend wound to a close in the bar with a rather tearful farewell between me and Cathy. The following morning I rallied to the airport feeling utterly exhausted from my week of socialising!!!…oh poor me…and bumped into Sally and Lyn and families en route via Porter to Toronto. Gorgeous Spencer, Kaitlyn and Jill remined me of our dancing escapades of Sat night!

I can't say enough about the convenience of Porter….it feels like a private airline really….and flying into the Island airport on a summers day with yachts skimming across the lake below was really lovely.

Pip was home when I walked in and it was great to see him again after two weeks apart and our little Mcgregor too. All in all I had another great adventure, stayed in two lovely houses, met really wonderful people, saw more of Oh Canada ! and reconnected with my favourite city, Quebec.

A big thanks to the Price family for allowing me to share their Reunion.

The end.