Les Moulins de L'isle-Aux-Coudres

Today we went to L'isle-Aux-Coudres. It is an island just off the Quebec coast. About a 20 minute ferry ride. The tour books make this island sound like quite the place to find artisans, particularly fabric artists. Did not find any of those but there seemed to be a lot of great smelling bakeries for such a small place.
Ger read about a museum on the island. So we had our first museum visit for the trip. The museum was about the flour mill located on the island. When it was first built it used a water wheel to power the mill but as the population grew on the island it did not produce enough flour to keep the residents fed in the winter. A wind mill was built which solved the problem. Since Ger is a millwright he was able to explain to me how the water wheel, the wind mill and the flour mill all work. I appreciated this info because the museum was self guided and most of the descriptions were in French. When we were leaving Ger met the miller. Turns out the mill still works and runs most days. This explains why there so many bakeries. The miller uses the water wheel to run the mill. It just wasn't running today because there wasn't enough water in reservoir. Too bad I didn't get a picture of the water wheel.
At the museum we also learned about a local custom on the island - Mi-Careme. There is a photo with an explanation. In the 1960's an NFB documentary was made about this custom. Portions of the film were being shown. Although the custom almost died out in the 1940's the islanders managed to keep it going. Now the younger generations think it is important enough to continue going back to the island to take part in the celebration every year.
We returned to the mainland and went to Baie St Paul to wander around their tourist area and have supper. Another lovely day.Read more