Remember Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville? The founder of Mobile and New Orleans and the man responsible for bringing the casquette girls to the South?
He also had a brother named Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville who founded Biloxi. And another brother, Jacques Le Moyne de Sainte-Hélène, who led the French and Indian massacre at the village of Schenectady in the early English colony of New York. And yet another brother, Antoine Le Moyne, Sieur de Châteauguay II, who was the governor of French Guiana (the person who owned the house appropriated by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac).
There are a lot of Le Moyne brothers (12 to be exact) who did a lot of memorable historical things… and all grew up in this house in Lachine.
This is the oldest building in Montreal (1669). Technically the boys didn’t grow up in the house… at that point in time, it was a fur trading post. But they likely would have all worked in it at some point.
The land in Lachine was originally owned by René-Robert Cavelier who was granted the land as part of the French seigneurie system. Cavelier later sold it to brother-in-laws Charles le Moyne and Jacques le Ber (le Ber married le Moyen’s sister Jeanne) so Cavelier could go off and explore the territory that is now known as Louisiana.
Le Moyne and le Ber built a fur trading post on the land they purchased and eventually became two very successful and influential merchants in Québec.
The Maison Le Ber-Le Moyne feels and smells old, like most things that have a long and rich history. The museum is free to visit and here’s a small parking lot by the museum that costs 25c for 15-minutes. It’s a short walk from the Lachine Canal and bike paths.
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