Deschambault-Grondines

The 'seigneurie des Grondines' was one of the oldest lordship in the province of Quebec, and was initially granted in 1637 by the Company of New France to Duchess Marie-Madeleine de Vignerot de Pontcourlay, Dame d'atours of Marie de' Medici, and niece of Cardinal Richelieu, chief minister of Louis XIV.[8]

The estate covered a land area of around 90 square miles or nearly 60,000 acres.[9][10] In 1646, the Governor of New-France at the time, Charles Jacques Huault de Montmagny, gave the concession to the nuns hospitallers, administrators of Hôtel-Dieu de Québec, and thereafter, it was resold in 1683 to Lord Jacques Aubert.[9] Being the father-in-law of Louis Hamelin, the next lord of Grondines, the lordship passed to the Hamelin family afterwards, and was transmitted to their descendants until 1797, following the British Conquest.[8][9] In 1698, comte Louis de Buade of Château Frontenac award them concessions, extending their lordship with additional islands and isles.[11] This family was one of the eight seigneurial dynasties that lived permanently on their estate for six generations.[12]

Over time, the Hamelins married members of the French-Canadian nobility. The families were the Couillard de l'Espinay, the Denys de la Ronde, partners of Charles Aubert de La Chesnaye, the Fleury d'Eschambault, the Gaultier de Varennes, the Lorimier de la Rivière, the Chavigny de la Chevrotière, and their in-laws included the Barons Le Moyne de Longueuil, the Pézard de Champlain, and the Boucher de Montarville.[13][14][15][16]

A member of this family was also recognized as noble by the Sovereign Council of New France of Louis XIV in 1654, and would join the French-Canadian nobility, being the lord and commander Jacques-François Hamelin de Bourgchemin et de l'Hermitière, a descendant of Jacques Hamelin, bishop of Tulle.[17][18][19][20] In 1766, a member of the Hamelin de Chavigny also appeared in documents of the Canadian nobility, where they asked the king to keep in power the current Governor of Quebec James Murray, with the hope of being less penalized by the injustices they had to suffer after the British conquest.[21]

The signatories, including A. Hamelin, were Luc de la Corne, François-Joseph Cugnet, Aubert de Gaspé, Antoine Juchereau Duchesnay, and a few others.[21] The last lord of Grondines was Senator David Edward Price in 1871, a member of the influential Price family.[9]

St-Lawrence River from Cap Lauzon, Deschambault-Grondines

DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA
« . . . The part of the Grondines map-area underlain by Paleozoic rocks (approximately two-thirds of the whole) is a nearly featureless plain rising in the north and west to 250 feet above sea level, and dropping to tide water level along the Saint-Laurent. » Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (Quebec), Grondines area, Geological report.[22]

« . . . The Grondines and Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade swamp is one of the last, large, treed swamps on the river. It extends along seven kilometres of shoreline in the St. Lawrence River’s freshwater estuary.

The swamp shelters several at-risk species, including plants that are endemic to the freshwater estuary. It is a rare biodiversity hot spot on a global scale, according to the Atlas de la biodiversité du Québec (Quebec biodiversity atlas). » The Grondines and Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade Swamp, A unique ecosystem [23]

• Habitats: swamp, tidal flats, roadsides, etc.
• 
  Sanguinaria canadensis L. — Bloodroot
• 
  Physocarpus opulifolius (L.) Maxim. — Nine-bark
• 
  Hesperis matronalis L. — Dame's rocket
• 
  Malva moschata L. — Musk mallow
• 
  Centaurea nigra L. ― Black knapweed
• 
  Impatiens glandulifera Royle. ― Giant Impatiens

• 
  Saint-Charles-Borromée church built between 1839 and 1842 according to the plans of architect Thomas Baillairgé.
• 
  Old presbytery built between 1815 and 1818.
• 
  Water mill built in 1802 by Seigneur Joseph Chavigny de la Chevrotière.
• 
  Rivière du Moulin and Vieux moulin Hamelin, Grondines
• 
  Windmill, Grondines, St-Lawrence River
• 
  Grondines Wharf, St-Lawrence River
• 
  Deschambault Wharf, St-Lawrence River