Notre Dame Mountains

The Notre Dame Mountains are a portion of the Appalachian Mountains, extending from the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec to the Green Mountains of Vermont.^[1]

The range runs from northeast to southwest, forming the southern edge of the St. Lawrence River valley, and following the Canada–United States border between Quebec and Maine. The mountainous New Brunswick "panhandle" is located in the Notre Dame range as well as the upper reaches of the Connecticut River valley in New Hampshire.

As the mountains are geologically old, they have eroded to an average height of around 600 m (2,000 ft).

Etymology

"Notre Dame" translates to "Our Lady," a Catholic term referring to the Virgin Mary.

While on an expedition on 15 August 1535, Jacques Cartier wrote:

Le landemain jour Notre Dame d'aoust XVe [...] eusmes cognoissance de terres qui nous demouroient vers le su qui est une terre à haultes montaignes à merveilles

The following autumn, maps he authored carried the name "haultes montaignes de Honguedo." However, it was the title of "Notre Dame" that would propagate quickly throughout the 16th century, with French navigator Jean Alfonse referring to them as the "montz Nostre Dame" in his 1544 work Cosmographie, followed by Gerardus Mercator in 1569.^[2]

Geography

Geology

Champlain Peak in the Bic National Park

Conservation

The Notre Dame Mountains are protected by several parks, both federally by Parks Canada and provincially by the Quebec Sépaq and New Brunswick:

• Forillon National Park
• Bic National Park
• Frontenac National Park
• Lake Témiscouata National Park
• Gaspésie National Park
• Mount Carleton Provincial Park

See also

• Notre Dame and Mégantic Mountains

References