In the woods behind the Laurier Museum in Victoriaville, it was planned to highlight the black walnut trees that have been growing there for decades. The high winds of August 4 (Storm Debby) changed plans, uprooting several trees.
This glitch led to changes in the woodland development and interpretation project which is part of the Culture-Nature Journey carried out in collaboration with the City of Victoriaville. The general director of the museum establishment, Mélisa Morissette, explained that the fallen wood had recently been collected and will see a new life thanks to its transformation.
It was with the help of a horse that the logs of wood were removed from the woods, the place being a protected heritage site where we wish to limit the impacts on the forest. Among the trees that did not withstand the high winds, there are two black walnuts that the Museum team believes were planted during the time of Wilfrid Laurier, as well as ash trees. “The walnut trees could come from Domaine Joly-de-Lotbinière,” believes Mélisa, very sad to see these colossi lying horizontally on the ground.
These trees, which are part of history and which have sentimental value, will not be forgotten since, thanks to a partnership with BF Recycle, they will be dried using a new microwave process (in a few days) then transformed by another local company, Appalaches Design of Kingsey Falls. We will make different wooden objects (tables, cutting boards, coasters, key rings, etc.), in a limited collection, which will be offered during a benefit activity to come in the fall of 2025. Both The trees in question are still 35 feet long and have a stump approximately 32 inches in diameter. “The forest will regenerate and there are other small black walnut trees, but the ones that fell were our jewels of the woodland,” she laments.
The reception desk of the Laurier Museum will also be made of these trees and the Hôtel des Postes will also display certain pieces to remind us of their passage. And, of course, we will keep a slice of the trees that we will present in order to show their age and thus interpret them, but differently than what was initially planned.
It should also be mentioned that the woodland faces, like several places in the municipality, the emerald ash borer which attacks this species. All this means that the Culture-Nature Trail, which was to extend widely into the wooded area, is restricted, in a first phase, to the section directly behind Laurier’s house, up to the first hill.
We still plan to develop it, just like the rear courtyard of the Museum which will feature, among other things, the fountain which took pride of place there in 1910. The project also includes paths, an outdoor exhibition with community gardens (with ancestral cultivars) and maybe even an agora. Everything to allow visitors to stop and soak up the surroundings, which fits perfectly with the theme of the Museum’s next exhibition. “We will bring back to life the Victorian era, a time when it was very contemplative. We want people to stop and take the time,” announces Mélisa Morissette.
This is part of the major route project which aims to highlight this sector of Old Arthabaska where several points of interest deserve attention. It was announced last summer and will be in place by September 30, which is fast approaching.
For the Laurier Museum, this is one of the many files to be implemented. Since she has been in charge, a year and a half, Mélisa Morissette has not been idle. She has increased the number of grant requests (at least twenty) which allows her, with her dedicated and motivated team, to achieve great things. We also notice a new clientele coming to the Lauriers or the Hôtel des Postes, attracted by the different activities offered there. This means that the national historic site could well obtain the best traffic in the last 20 years. “We are also developing strategic planning,” she adds.
Everything seems to be going well since visitors are present, school and francization groups are on the rise, volunteers are taking over the place and Friends of the Museum are also increasing in number.
