Musée Maritime de Charlevoix [Maritime Museum]

We say that our mariners and captains were daring. Navigating the second most difficult seaway in the world on board wooden schooners, let’s just say they had courage tattooed across their hearts. But brave men needed worthy ships; solid vessels needed to be built and  well-maintained. It’s on this very spot, in this former shipyard-turned-family-entertainment venue and heritage site, that the story of our water cars is told. Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive is proud to pass this part of its still-exciting, often-entertaining, and very much of-its-time history on to new generations!

Young and old alike will enjoy handling the ship’s wheel and exploring these vessels, from the cargo hold to the wheelhouse!

With three wooden schooners, properly-housed and well-preserved in drydock, one a sailing schooner, another a 100-year-old tugboat, your thirst for all things maritime will be easily quenched, without even having to test your sea legs. Going back a few summers now, the St-André’s cargo hold has come to life thanks to the “Between Pitoune [Lumber] and Dynamite: The St-André Schooner” multimedia show, ­adding to the whole experience. Located in a real shipyard, the site ­offers visitors a dynamic museum space in which they can learn about the old, and highly technical, craft of building sturdy schooners using raw timber from our forests. The site also contains traces of the past, as a whole network of rails, as well as the winch and its sleigh, reminds us that pulling a vessel out of the water was quite the adventure! Though ­firmly oriented to the river’s waters in mind and body, the ­Musée ­maritime de Charlevoix has, in recent years, enhanced the family experience for its visitors by making good use of the adjacent forest and fields. A short walk into woods where century-old apple trees grow leads, to everyone’s great delight, to an outdoor adventure course. From there, we come to a golden field where a plant labyrinth and a forest of masts continues to astound! Not done learning about the charming village of not more than 200 souls, yet? Steps away from the entrance to the museum, you’ll find the Forêt marine [Marine Forest] trail, the very place from which the wood for shipbuilding came, with its waterfalls, understory, lookout platforms, canyon, wooden arch bridges, and its former hydroelectric dam.

A number of renovation and improvement ­projects continue to put the wind in the Musée maritime de ­Charlevoix’s sails and propel it full speed ahead as the ­museum cruises proudly towards summer 2023, preparing to welcome the «Vues du fleuve» [River Views] exhibit. Featuring 36 engravings from the Collection Loto-Québec and curated by Manon Barbeau and Anaïs ­Barbeau-Lavalette, this exposition is a mother-daughter dialogue on the importance of the river to our sense of identity.

How would you make a day spent having fun in the fresh air by the side of what we call “the sea” even ­better? Why not feel a real sense of adventure, the adrenaline that seagoing mariners felt? The escape game devised by the Musée maritime de Charlevoix will keep you on edge for two hours, tops! The Pavillon des Pilotes du Bas Saint-Laurent is also the scene of a new immersive and fun high-tech activity, where visitors are invited to take the controls of their own cargo-carrying schooner in a video game. Will you have what it takes to be a good captain, or will you only be fit to scrub down the deck?