In Baie-Saint-Paul, we love tours. After the Heritage Tour, all across town the user-friendly Commemorative Plaque Tour winks at passers-by. Plaques and monuments abound, outdoors! See a bust of Claude Le Sauteur over here, admire a sculpted monument of artist Gérard Thériault over there. Around the presbytery, in front of the church, in the park by the marina, at Cap-aux-Corbeaux’s unparalleled roadside lookout, and even under the bridge – where you can’t miss the fresco Hier et aujourd’hui or Yesterday & Today, Baie-Saint-Paul tips its hat to each and every person who, at one time or another, found their inspiration here and for whom la belle Baie was an anchorage or stopover.
Honouring the region’s maritime past, the vision of our early pioneers or the talent of our artisans, marking the English Conquest or the artistic legacies of Blanche and Yvonne Bolduc, Marc-Aurèle Fortin, Clarence Gagnon or René Richard, all are good reasons for building a monument, creating an obelisk, sculpting a bust, striking a plaque. Let it be known: living memory abounds in Baie-Saint-Paul! Sometimes enormously so! As we are reminded by the monumental piece by Gérard Thériault, called Oeillée vers le large, representing an Amerindian looking out toward the unseen. This giant
sculpture, in front of René-Richard Library, is fashioned from shaped metal wire. On the plaque is a poem by the artist. A single word: Splendid!
Taking the Commemorative Plaque Tour is a fine way to discover Baie-Saint-Paul, from its pier-side promenade to rue Sainte-Anne, Chemin de la Pointe, Halte de la Batture, the church square and Place du Citoyen. A tour map is available at the Tourist Information Centre. Let’s bet there’s a plaque nearby!
