About
the Museum

Our Mission

To explain and promote the history of Charlevoix’s wooden schooners and their vocation as coastal cargo vessels on the St. Lawrence River, through exhibitions, conferences and publications. The Museum also manages its collection and archives, including the buildings of the Chantiers maritimes de Charlevoix Ltée, their equipment (1946) and the ships, including the Saint-André and the Marie-Clarisse, both listed in the Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec and protected under the Cultural Heritage Act.

Dedicated to acting as an informal educational venue, the Museum organizes and renews a program of events and training courses, including workshops for school groups.

The Museum also maintains the Parc des Navigateurs and Forêt marine, notably by cultivating the varieties of trees required to build a wooden schooner.

From nature to culture, mountains to river, the Museum preserves and promotes this remarkable piece of Charlevoix’s history for people here and abroad, today and tomorrow, young and old.

Our History

FROM SHIPYARD TO MUSEUM

In 1973, Chantiers maritimes de Charlevoix of Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive, which had been overwintering and maintaining schooners since 1946, shut its doors. The last seaworthy schooners were sold and sailed for the Caribbean in 1978. The remaining ships were deliberately beached and left to die a slow death. A page of history was turned, setting the stage for the chapter to come.

In 1981, a group of residents of Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive conceived their first maritime exhibition and held it in the village’s old schoolhouse. Then, in 1985, JAZ Desgagnés, at that point the sole owner of the shipyard, agreed to turn the site into an interpretation center dedicated to Charlevoix’s wooden schooners and maritime heritage. The three schooners spending their retirement years on the beach were given new life and became the last vestiges of a bygone era.

The Museum quickly gained recognition, receiving the backing and support of Quebec’s Ministère de la Culture et des Communications, and then that of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, which declared the museum a historic site in 1998.

But that very year, a fire destroyed the three boats that had been preserved up to then. Through donations and purchases, the schooners Jean-Yvan and Saint-André and the fishing schooner Marie Clarisse were acquired and became the new exhibits in the permanent watercraft exhibition.

THE FORÊT MARINE

In 2008, the Museum received the donation of a 40-hectare forest – a precious gift from a resident of Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive. The Forêt marine, as it is called, is dedicated to the rehabilitation of the “ships’ forest” and was developed in cooperation with Université Laval. In 2016, a 4-km hiking trail was built through the woods.

PARC DES NAVIGATEURS

Après avoir reçu un don de terrain de 8,2 hectares (20 acres), adjacent à l’ancien chantier maritime, le Musée entreprend en 2015 son redéploiement avec le projet du Parc des navigateurs. Un investissement de près de trois millions de dollars s’impose.
Le Musée peut ainsi proposer une visite à 360°, de la forêt au fleuve, de nature et de culture. Il ajoute à son offre des expositions, un vaste parc avec un espace ludique, un arboretum, une piste d’hébertisme, des sculptures, un sentier, des espaces à pique-nique, etc.

Fier d’être le principal bailleur de fonds de ce projet, le Musée a trouvé écho auprès de plusieurs partenaires financiers dont le ministère du Tourisme du Québec, dans le cadre du programme Stratégie maritime – volet touristique, le Programme Fonds du Canada pour les espaces culturels du gouvernement fédéral, le fonds de développement économique de la région de la Capitale-Nationale, l’Entente de partenariat régional en tourisme (EPRT) du gouvernement du Québec, l’Université Laval, le Jardin botanique de Montréal, la Corporation des Pilotes du Bas Saint-Laurent, la MRC de Charlevoix et la Municipalité des Éboulements.

Depuis, le Musée n’a cessé de développer son offre et d’intéresser ses publics pour franchir le cap des 20 000 visiteurs en 2022.

Aujourd’hui, un important chantier de mise à l’abri de ses trois précieuses goélettes est en cours pour assurer leur pérennité. Ce projet de plus de 7 M $ est financé par le ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec, Patrimoine Canadien, Les Éboulements, la MRC de Charlevoix et le Musée.

The Museum Crew

Board of Directors

Charting a course from the very beginning to the present day, they have been and still are our beacons.

Directors