Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing it, between Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time), by using the blue link-up button below.
Le Chemin du Roy (The King’s Road), Berthierville Section
In 1660 the very first section of what would later become known in New France as the Chemin Du Roy (The King’s Road) was built through Québec City.
Later in 1706 the Grand Council of New France decreed the road be extended all the way to Montréal, thereby linking the population in the growing communities along the length of the northern banks of the St. Lawrence River.
Construction began in 1731 and when it was completed in 1737 the Chemin du Roy was 7.4 meters (24.6 ft) wide and 280 kilometers (174 miles) long, making it at that time the longest continuous North American road north of Mexico.
Back in the day a trip by horse and carriage between Québec City and Montréal would take between four to six days, depending on the weather. But things evolved and after the railroad had replaced the road in terms of importance, then the automobile came along.
Yes the road was paved, but cars and trucks required bigger, better roads and divided highways. Today driving the speed limit on either Highway #20 on the south shore or #40 on the north shore, will get you from one city to the other in about three hours. All of this would take even more traffic and purpose away from the old road.
Seeing that an important part of our heritage was slipping away, in 1999 the provincial government instituted a tourism initiative to invite people to rediscover the historic old road before it was lost and forgotten forever. The road was sign-posted along its entire length. Historical and tourist information markers were also added to make it easier for tourists who prefer life in the slow lane, to find the most interesting spots to visit, stay, eat, and discover.
This week I thought we’d stop in the town of Berthierville, just off the eastern tip of the island of Montréal, which is where most agree the road really starts to get interesting.
The grand old homes along this section all have spectacular views of the river and here are some of my favorites:
This one in the corner of the old town square has a wonderful copper roof.
And the fancy door is not too shabby to look at.
I took a number of shots of this one but no matter what I did I could not fit the whole structure into the frame.
Isn’t it gorgeous though?
A straight-on shot of the door.
Not so much for the door, but the elegant lines, covered wrap-around porch, and the tin roof with the little ice-breaking widgets all caught my eye on this one.
And let’s finish this one off with a typical door photographer’s selfie 😀
As always, thanks so much for visiting 🙂
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Pingback: Quebec’s Door Museum | Susi Lovell
Pingback: Thursday Doors – May 17, 2018 | Norm 2.0
You had some awesome sights in this post collection of doors, Norm. I had a great vacation from 6/30 until 7/7/17 when my daughter got married but quite a busy and fun holiday.
The favorites of mine were #730 and #660.
The first (730) was such a great combination of all the best features, brick with white shutters, a turret, window panes open and whatever you would call the rectangular white box of windows with cornice above it ? Superb!
The oak honey-colored door was such a beauty, with brick house and white pillars at 660.
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Impressive buildings.
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Another fantastic doorscursion. Really amazing houses. I’m particularly fond of the one with the copper roof.
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Thanks Jeanette, that one does have a certain charm though I’m not sure I’d want to be the one who had to do the housework there 😉
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I love the Victorian house.
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Thanks. I totally agree, that one is just gorgeous 🙂
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Love the houses. That last door was pretty too.
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Thank you 🙂
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Hi Norm,
Here is my entry for this week.
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Thanks Cee.
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What amazing houses. Love the selfie – I keep doing that too.
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Thanks. Yes those selfies are almost always accidental.
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Very classy. I love old houses like these.
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Thanks Sherry. Me too. We love staying in B & B’s in big old homes like these.
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Such pretty houses and doors, Norm. I like all of them!
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Thanks Angela – me too 😀
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I’ve been meaning to visit Quebec City again. I’ll definitely strive to travel as much as I can along chemin du Roy. Thanks for this, Norm. And what lovely photos! 😀
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It’s a much slower way to go with all the small towns and villages along the way, but there a lots of good excuses to stop and explore.
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It’s all about the journey, after all. 😀
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Really, magnificent!
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Thank you 🙂
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Here is my entry for this week.
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Thanks Charles 🙂
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The copper tower like roof is quite a feature! Am always happy for history to be preserved! These white doors with glass insets are so beautiful – I’ll take that any day over a red or brown one. When a selfie comes with the best angle of a door, are the only selfies I don’t mind:):)
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Thanks. Those are the kind of selfies that happen by accident with me. Often I don’t realize that I’m in the shot 🙂
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The same here:)
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I would guess the Chemin Du Roy would make a wonderful road trip!
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Indeed Lynn. There are a few stretches with not much to see, but an awful lot of reasons to stop and explore too 🙂
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Beautiful!
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Thanks Tara 🙂
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That second house is a total and complete charmer! I love everything about it, except that I don’t have one exactly like it. lol! Love the selfie shot — those doors are beautiful, too.
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Thanks Marian. There are some lovely BIG old homes along that stretch.
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Love the doors and as always, love the historical notes.
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Thank you!
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Must be the selfie! 🙂 In the best door too!
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Those selfies always seem to happen by accident with me. I don’t notice myself in the shot until I import the pic later 🙂
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These are the best kind, most of mine are such too. If I remember correctly, one of the door bloggers has invented a name for them. Was it ‘doorfie’? 😀
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Yes, Maggie came up with that. It has a nice ring to it. We door nuts are slowly building up our own vocabulary.
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such beautiful doors 🙂
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Thanks. Glad you liked them 🙂
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I like 730. Those front doors have just the right kind of sparkle to make me happy. When do I get to move in?
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Thanks Ally – we’ll just have to figure out how to get rid of the current occupants first 😉
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I love these small historic towns with their grand elegant homes, and Quebec seems to have an abundance of them. I wish Gilles liked slow travel and would be interested in taking the scenic route. There is just so much beauty to see.
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Thanks Joanne. If you ever wanted to explore the area just let me know, you’d have two enthusiastic tour guides willing to join you.
As for slow travel, just tell Gilles it’s the road that all bicycle tourists use between Montréal and Québec and see if that whets his appetite 😉
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Funny, I mentioned your post to him and Gilles is all about getting from point A to B as quickly as possible. Ironically, he said he had taken that route one day because of congestion on Highway 20 and thought it was really beautiful.
Woohoo! There’s a chance 🙂
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Love the selfie, or, as Maggie says “door-fie” but that first house is magnificent. I know the feeling of struggling to get the house in the frame without lying on the ground or calling in air-support. I am very glad the government decided to keep the road alive. It’s nice to be able to experience history.
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Thanks Dan. We’ll see if it catches on but I think Maggie may have coined a new phrase 😀
At some point the provincial tourism bureau started to step up their game and thankfully so. There’s such a rich history here to preserve and celebrate.
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HMM I did a selfie like that this week too! Gorgeous homes.
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Thanks Jackie. Often those kind of selfie’s happen without me even realizing I’m being reflected in the door or window.
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What a great place for a bit of slow travel and these houses are gorgeous. Life in the slow lane can be a lot of fun.
janet
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Oh Janet, as I get older I so much prefer life in the slow lane. I’d rather take a few hours more and really soak in a place rather than cover lots of ground but not really see much of anything.
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Very pretty indeed. I’m a fan of the open windows. Seems so welcoming. Great fancy doors, the 660 selfie one the most. Really lovely carving details.
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Thanks Joey. Before the days of air conditioning I bet those open windows were an absolute necessity on hot summer days.
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Some welcoming doorways here – nice selection again Norm
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Thanks Debbie. I put yours on the link-up list.
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The house with the turret and rounded features: I can feel the breezes blowing through the open windows.
Love the “door-fie” – your image reflected in the final shot.
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Breezes, yes I can feel them too!
Congrats Maggie I do believe that your Door-fie may just catch on 😀
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What fun to learn about the Chemin du Roi! And another QC place to add to my list to visit. I especially love that copper roof.
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Thanks Susi. Indeed if you ever have the time to take the long way to Québec this is the way to go. There are some boring spots of course but lots of great discoveries too 🙂
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Beautiful homes and gingerbread trim, wonderful doors, and great foresight. Your home country always amazes me with their good planning. 🙂
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Thanks Judy – we’re far from perfect but there are a lot of things we do get right; preserving our heritage is one of them 🙂
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Link was not working. Great door photos!
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Sorry Ron the linky has been misbehaving lately – I added your post to our list 🙂
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Great doors!
Sorry, you linky list appears full of advertisements. I didn’t know where to put my link.
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Sorry about that – the link-up wasn’t working properly but it’s okay now. I added your post to the list 🙂
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Thank you!
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It’s great when the powers-that-be use a bit of foresight and do something to preserve local history and culture. That part of town must be a treasure for history lovers. Number 730, is a beauty, my favourite. Very nice door to frame your selfie at the end, too, Norm. 🙂
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Thanks Jean I totally agree about preserving history and culture. Not only is it important but there can be good business opportunities in doing so.
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