Beyond the bustling streets, discover Hochelaga. Hochelaga was a 16th-century Iroquois village nestled against the slopes of Mount Royal. Jacques Cartier, the French explorer, stumbled upon this vibrant community in 1535. He marveled at the roughly fifty longhouses, each a testament to Iroquois ingenuity. These wooden and bark structures, some rectangular and some rounded, housed a community of approximately 3,000 inhabitants. Cartier described Hochelaga as a circular village, protected by a three-tiered wooden palisade. He documented his visit in “Bref récit,” an account that later inspired Venetian statesman Giovanni Battista Ramusio. Ramusio, fascinated by Cartier’s tales, featured Hochelaga in his work “Delle navigationi et viaggi.” One of the striking details Cartier noted was the layout of the longhouses. Each had several hearths and rooms branching off a central common area where the community gathered around the fire. This design reflected the communal nature of Iroquois life. Hochelaga’s location offered a strategic advantage, with cultivated fields surrounding the village and a commanding view from the nearby mountain, which Cartier promptly named Mount Royal. From this vantage point, Cartier observed the Lachine Rapids, a natural barrier that prevented him from sailing further inland. Sadly, Hochelaga vanished sometime before Cartier’s return in 1541. Its fate remains shrouded in mystery, with theories ranging from war with neighboring tribes to migration or the devastating impact of European diseases. While the exact location of Hochelaga remains unknown, its legacy endures. The neighborhood of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve in Montreal bears its name, as does the Osheaga Festival, a testament to the village that once thrived in the shadow of Mount Royal. Hochelaga represents a lost chapter in Montreal’s history, a reminder of the rich Indigenous heritage that predates European settlement. The Hochelaga Rock, a memorial stone placed near McGill University, serves as a poignant reminder of this vanished village.
Parc Dickie-Moore
Who needs a time machine when you’ve got Parc Dickie-Moore? This little slice of Parc-Extension holds a century of Montreal