William Hume Blake (centre) and his wife (right) during a fishing expedition, circa 1910.
© Musée de Charlevoix, Elizabeth Bacque coll.
When William Hume Blake was young in the 1860s and 70s, summer holidayers in the Charlevoix were mainly upper-class English-speakers from Quebec and Ontario. They sought rest and time with family in a charming, peaceful environment.
Americans began to come for their summer holidays in great numbers from 1882 onward, following on a recommendation of a New York physician. In his In a Fishing Country, Blake complains about the change in summer people’s mentality, as they tried to recreate city life in the country.
The arrival of the golf and tennis fans in the 1890s hardly reassured our fisherman! He did admit, however, that these sports offered new leisure opportunities to women, who were often left alone during the summer holidays.