The Bois Rond Experience: A Journey through Woodworking History and Nature

By Jean-Philippe Tremblay

The Bois Rond Experience tourist site, located on the edge of the La Baie borough, promotes woodworking. Through more than 5km of trails in the forest, tourists and the curious will be able to observe the evolution of different woodworking methods, from colonization to today.

“We offer two really different courses. One is on the history of traditional wooden construction. We visit various buildings, from those built according to the methods of the first arrivals which were very rudimentary, to others built according to the methods of the settlers of the last century, either in piece on solid wood piece, until the last constructions modern wooden logs. The second course aims rather to discover the habitat of the beaver, a pioneer of woodworking in the country, and its working techniques,” explains the co-owner of the company, Marc Plourde.

All the circuits are moreover of a duration of approximately half a day and are in the form of walks in the forest.

In addition to the summer routes, the site also offers winter excursions, including one on traditional woodcutting with period tools. Guided tours on skis or snowshoes are also available by reservation for tourists from outside.

The site’s service offer also attracts mainly foreign tourists, while 85% of the clientele comes from Europe.

They can also take advantage of an immersive accommodation service, while “ready-to-camp” style cabins are available for rent.

A goal of preservation

Marc Plourde and his wife Julie Fortin started this tourism project 5 years ago. The initiative to create a tourist site articulated around woodworking was mainly motivated by passion and resourcefulness.

“In fact, the idea of ​​getting into this goes back a few years. We wanted to preserve our land of 50 hectares and we were looking for a concrete idea on how to exploit it and especially to preserve it. What’s more, I’ve always loved woodworking, so we combined business with pleasure,” explains Marc Plourde.