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

After receiving another donation of 8.2 hectares (20 acres) of land adjacent to the former shipyard, in 2015 the Museum began its redevelopment with the Parc des navigateurs project. An investment of nearly three million dollars was required.
Today, the Museum offers a 360° tour of nature and culture, from forest to river. It has added exhibitions, a vast park with a play area, an arboretum, a hebertism course, sculptures, a trail, picnic areas and more.

Proud to be the main financial backer of this project, the Museum has found support from several financial partners, including the Quebec’s department of tourism, within its Maritime Strategy tourism program; the federal government’s Canada Cultural Spaces Fund program; the Fonds de développement économique de la région de la Capitale-Nationale; the Entente de partenariat régional en tourisme (EPRT) of the Québec government; Université Laval; the Montréal Botanical Garden; the Corporation des Pilotes du Bas Saint-Laurent; the Charlevoix MRC; and the town of Les Éboulements.

The Museum has continuously developed its services and activities and attracted new visitors, aiming to surpass the 20,000 attendance mark in 2022.

Today, a major initiative is in progress to safeguard the museum’s three precious schooners and ensure their longevity. The $7 million-plus project is funded by the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec, Canadian Heritage, Les Éboulements and the Charlevoix MRC.

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