Saint-Jacques
Municipality
The now heavily touristed Rue Ste-Anne dates to before the 18th century.
Coat of arms
Nickname:  The Acadian cradle of Lanaudière
Location within Montcalm RCM
Saint-Jacques Location in central Quebec
Coordinates: 45°57′N 73°34′W / 45.950°N 73.567°W / 45.950; -73.567[1]
Country	Canada
Province	Quebec
Region	Lanaudière
RCM	Montcalm
Constituted	May 20, 1998
Government [2]
• Mayor	Josyanne Forest
• Federal riding	Montcalm
• Prov. riding	Joliette
Area [2][3]
• Total	67.20 km2 (25.95 sq mi)
• Land	67.17 km2 (25.93 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[3]
• Total	4,302
• Density	64/km2 (170/sq mi)
• Pop (2016–21)	8.3%
• Dwellings	1,939
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Postal code(s)	J0K 2R0
Area code(s)	450 and 579
Highways[4]	R-158 R-341
Website	www.st-jacques.org

Saint-Jacques (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ ʒak] ^ⓘ) is a 26 mi² (67.34 km²) rural municipality in the Lanaudière region of Québec, Canada, part of the Montcalm Regional County Municipality with a population of 4,300 year-round residents.^[5]

Founded in 1774 by 30 Acadian families from Boston who returned to Québec by boat after forced expulsion, the region is known as the "Acadian cradle of Lanaudière," and its coat of arms uses the same colors as the Acadian flag.^[6] The great disturbance, known in French as "Le Grand Dérangement," which led to their deportation, and eventually landed them in Saint-Jacques, "began in the fall of 1755 and lasted until 1778."^[7][8] "The first removals ... [of] approximately 7,000 people, were from settlements around the Bay of Fundy" in present-day Nova Scotia.^[7]

Named Saint-Jacques-de-la-Nouvelle-Acadie to commemorate the Acadians' second pioneering effort, the municipality provided the settlers key resources for living off the land.^[8][9] The site provided ready access to "hardwood ... with which [to] build homes, barns, poultry houses, hog barns, sheep pens.... ploughs, tables, chairs, or tool handles ... and "soft wood" — the white pine especially — [for] cabinets, hutches, bowls and shoes."^[8] Thus the first houses in the municipality were built in 1768.^[8]

In 1772, the villagers hired a priest and, in 1775, they built their first church. Nine years later, they began cultivating tobacco, which became so essential it is pictured on one of the four quadrants of the municipality's coat of arms.^[8][10] Other agricultural crops followed: corn, grain, as well as dairy farms in the swine industry, vegetable farming, the farming of mink, and maple trees, eventually leading to the development of off-season industries and factories.^[8] For all of its success, the municipality remained quiet. In 1895, Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World Containing Notices of Over One Hundred and Twenty-five Thousand Places summed it up this way:

SAINT JACQUES DE L’ACHIGAN, a post-village of Québec, co. of Montcalm, 13 miles N.N.W. of L'Assomption. It has a church, a convent, a brewery, &c. Pop. 800.^[11]

More than 100 years later, the church and convent are tourist attractions, the name is shorter and the municipality's crops draw tourists in search of lush gardens, fruitful orchards, organic farms, sustainable pork and an annual gourmet food festival, known as "Les Fêtes gourmandes de Lanaudière."^[6][12] Between 2016–18, the municipality's Parc des Cultures was recognized with four out of five Fleurons du Québec for its horticultural appeal.^[13][14]

Tourism

• Known for its snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and hiking, Saint-Jacques is also a destination for fresh organic food enthusiasts and nature lovers who seek to stroll in picturesque lavender fields.^[12]
• In addition to the Parc des Cultures, which uses arts, horticulture and ornament to memorialize the municipality's history, it also hosts the hiker-friendly Parc de la Coulée.^[12]
• The Maison de la Nouvelle-Acadie (Home of the New Acadia) is a small museum that traces the eight-part story of the Acadian arrival in Canada from 1604 to the foundation of Saint-Jacques in 1774.^[15]
• A mobile application is available for self-guided tours of the villages main sites, which includes several structures listed on both the Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec and the Canadian Register of Historic Places: "l'Ancien Bureau de Poste, la Maison Louise-Pariseau, the parc Grand-Pré, the Couvent des sœurs de Sainte-Anne, l’église de Saint-Jacques, le parc des Cultures, the Maison de la Nouvelle-Acadie and le centre culturel du Vieux-Collège, which was purposely built to educate the sons of farmers."^[16][17]

Demographics

Housing

Languages

Education

Gallery

(Selection was limited by availability.)

• 
  Constructed prior to the 18th century, Rue Ste-Anne is one of the municipality's oldest streets.
• 
  Built between 1801–13, Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur de L'Achigan was destroyed by fire in 1914.
• 
  Built in 1897, the Saint-Jacques Presbytery is now on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.^[22]
• 
  Built in 1905 as a residence, the Maison Louise-Pariseau is now on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.^[23]
• 
  Built in 1912, Vieux Collège Saint-Jacques is on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.^[24]
• 
  Built between 1915-1918, the Eglise-Saint-Jacques was built immediately after the original church burnt down.
• 
  Built in 1920, Croix de Chemin, or Wayside Cross, commemorates the first mass at Bas-de-l’Église Nord.
• 
  Built in 1913, the Couvent des Sœurs de Sainte-Anne is on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.^[25]
• 
  Built ca. 1927, l'Ancien Bureau de Poste is the earliest post office in the municipality. It is now on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.^[26]
• 
  Contemporary image of a wood-burning stove used to refine sugar, an area specialty.

References