Canada Guide
Southwest Québec
The Eastern Townships (Cantons-de-l'Est)
Beginning about 80km east of Montréal and extending to the US border, the Eastern Townships were once Québec's best-kept secret, but the nineteenth-century villages are fast becoming no more than shopping arcades fringed with vacation complexes for Montréal weekenders. A growing ski industry – concentrated around Mont Sutton, just north of the Vermont border – is making its mark on the land, too. However, the region's agricultural roots are still evident, especially in spring, when the maple trees are tapped for syrup. At this time of year, remote cabanes à sucre offer sleigh rides and Québecois fare such as maple taffy – strips of maple syrup frozen in the snow.
The land, once the domain of scattered groups of aboriginal peoples, was later settled by United Empire Loyalists hounded out of the US after the American Revolution. Their loyalty to the crown resulted in freehold land grants from the British, and townships with very English names like Sherbrooke and Granby were founded. In the mid-nineteenth century the townships opened up to industry, which attracted an influx of French-Canadians seeking work: today, nearly 95 percent of the 400,000 population are francophone. For the most part, relations between the linguistic groups have been amicable, though pockets like the towns and villages around Knowlton and North Hatley remain staunchly tied to their anglophone heritage, and the English-language cultural scene is much stronger than the size of the population would suggest.
You can reach the region from Montréal by the Autoroute des Cantons-de-l'Est (Hwy 10), which has a useful information centre for the whole region at exit 68, southwest of Granby (daily June– Sept 10am–7pm; Oct– May 9am–5pm; 
819/820-2020 or 1-800/355-5755, 
www.easterntownships.org ). Slower Hwy 112 wends through small villages and past forests and lakes; if you've got plenty of time, detour south onto the secondary roads nearer the US border that pass rustic barns, duck under covered bridges and wind through the province's fledgling vineyards. A dozen or so Limocar buses a day from Montréal ( 514/842-2281 or 1-866/700-8899, www.limocar.ca ) stop in Magog and Sherbrooke; less often in Granby (4/day) and Bromont (2/day).