The fabulous story of La Chicoutée begins in 1923, when a navigational light was installed by the Canadian Navy on the current site of the gîte to safely guide schooners.

During the Second World War, the village of Longue-Pointe-de-Mingan became an ideal site to watch the German submarines patrolling the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The U.S army thus established a base here in 1942 and built a wharf and a military airport. The village became part of the “Crimson route,” an air corridor connecting North America and the European Battlefields.

After the war, in 1949, Arthur and Anne-Marie Chiasson purchased the land and built their house using recovered materials from a military hut. The Chiasson house became the center of the village. Teachers, workers, dignitaries and visitors were housed there. One room became the hospital and another became a dental clinic for the few but feared visits of the dentist. Mrs. Chiasson also surveyed the emergency radio and remained on standby day and night.

Since 1976, the Minganie region was finally connected to the rest of Quebec by the extension of route 138. In 1994, Sylvain and Pauline, nature and sea lovers, arrived in the region by this route and bought the famous Chiasson house. After several renovations, they baptized and opened “La Chicoutée.”

Histoire des boiseries du studio La Chicoutée, par Brad Cormier, ébéniste (French only)

Cloudberry plant in bloom with fruit.
© Aquarelle by Noriko Ima

Cloudberry

The cloudberry is a small fruit commonly found on the North Shore. You will find it in peatlands and in sphagnum mats of the coniferous forests. Cloudberry is also known as bakeapple, Knotberry and Averin.