Fort Chambly National Historic Site

Lovely place. Nice for the whole family. Plenty of space to do a picnic, to play, dogs are allowed. You can see the sunset there. There is one entrance to the river where you can sit on a rock and put your feet into the fresh water. There are picnic tables. There are some bathrooms and water fountains. Some people fish, but I'm not sure it is allowed. You can visit the historic building. The parking is limited and free, but I have never been forced to park outside. It is 5 min away from the restaurants and ice cream places. Nice place to take tourists. 👌

While staying in Saint Jean Sur Richelieu my wife and I decided to take a drive along the Richelieu River which was a very pleasant drive to Fort Chambly. The fort is situated on the Richelieu River and adjacent park. We had a really great time walking in and around the fort. The history and displays made it an enjoyable experience. The guides were helpful and polite and very knowledgeable. The fort and park is very well maintained and worth visiting if you have the time.

Beautiful spot to spend the day. The Fort is cute and the fee is not expensive, really good and friendly staff. I enjoyed my visit. Also, there is a mall you can park for free and walk to the Fort using the waterfront boardwalk which has pretty nice views. Worth a visit for sure.

Nice place to visit with family. Pretty big park to have a little walk and enjoy the picnic.

Enough of parking for everyone. Easily accessible.

Has a historical building to look at - Fort Chambly.

We happened to see an ending event with antique cars. Pretty awesome.

A bit far from Montreal. Took us around 50 minutes to drive with no traffic, but definitely worth to visit.

Beautiful serene place for family picnic, watch the sunset and a little creek sound in the background. Learned lots of details from the guide. It’s not very big but historic site.

Nice place, I would like to visit every day. Very refreshing. The small city is nice and well decorated. You must need to visit this place.

Great place for a family visit! Picnic area available, army 17th century representation available check for the time of representations on website, courteous personnel, great exposition on site, new history games that involve children into a more active history learning are available! Free parking is available!

Fort Chambly is a historic fort in La Vallée-du-Richelieu Regional County Municipality, Quebec. It is designated as a National Historic Site of Canada. Fort Chambly was formerly known as Fort St. Louis. It was part of a series of five fortifications built along the Richelieu River that were built to protect travellers on the river from the Iroquois. The region is informally known as la Vallée-des-Forts.

Fort Chambly at the foot of the Chambly rapids on the Richelieu River in Quebec, Canada, was built by the French in 1711. It was the last of three forts to be built on the same site. The first — then called Fort Saint Louis — was constructed in 1665 by captain Jacques de Chambly, to protect New France from Iroquois attacks.

After minor repairs, the fort was burned by the Indians in 1702, but was reconstructed the same year. By then it was already known as Fort Chambly. However, with the Great Peace of Montreal in 1701, the war between the French and Iroquois was over. Also at this time the War of the Spanish Succession broke out, and boiled over into the colonies of France and England. Thus, to defend against a more powerful European attack, including the threat of cannon fire, Governor Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil ordered that the fort be rebuilt in stone in 1709. The engineer responsible for the design and construction of the new fort was Josué Boisberthelot de Beaucours. He also oversaw major improvements carried out on the fort between 1718 and 1720, modifications he felt would greatly increase the fort's defenses.

For many years Fort Chambly was the main footing of the defensive chain of fortifications along the Richelieu River, which was the easiest invasion route into New France. However, with the construction of Fort Saint-Frédéric (1731) and Fort Saint-Jean (Quebec) (1748) further south, Fort Chambly lost most of its defensive purpose and so was converted into a warehouse and rally-point for soldiers, although the fort was never abandoned. With the Seven Years' War, Fort Chambly was re-fortified and reoccupied, although it failed to stop the British from approaching Montreal and Quebec City. The substantial stone structure which still stands today was lost to the British in 1760 in The Conquest of New France, also known as the French and Indian War.

Captured by American forces on October 20, 1775 during the American Invasion of Canada of 1775–76, it was held until the spring of 1776 when it was evacuated and burned, as the Americans retreated southward to Fort Ticonderoga. Subsequently, prisoners-of-war from the Continental Army, including Colonel William Stacy, were held at Fort Chambly until the end of the American Revolutionary War.

After the Fenian Raids in the 1860s, during which the fort was reoccupied, it was allowed to fall into ruin. In 1881 a citizen of Chambly, Joseph-Octave Dion, personally repaired and restored the site. In the 20th century the Canadian government recognized Fort Chambly's cultural and historical worth and undertook its maintenance. Between 1965 and 1985 extensive archaeological digs were carried out, and today a fully reconstructed version of the final phase of Fort Chambly (1718–1720) is maintained by Parks Canada and is open to the public as the Fort Chambly National Historic Site of Canada.

What a wonderful fort! The fort itself was interesting, and the museum was great! Care had clearly been put into each exhibit, and we learned a lot. I would definitely recommend!

Very nice place to come visit and do a picnic and the museum is really interesting.The river there is nice to see to

Great place to walk around and look at the sunset.

Nice place, you can see the soldiers life In 1665 inside . Nice view outside too, enjoy the sun and wind

The museum inside the fort is great! Small but lovingly put together. Staff clearly care and are friendly and welcoming. The interactive exhibit with QR codes was unexpectedly fun. The park around the fort is nice too! Glad we stumbled upon this gem!

Historic site with a pact and nice view. I recommend

An amazing place that will transcend my lifetime. Go for a beer, go for a walk or go and read a book, but go. It's worth it

Very well preserved and maintained. A lot of artefacts. Beautiful surroundings. A place that could be enjoyed by adults and children. They have made it fun for children to read and look at pictures. Not many military forts have that. There’s a free parking. Entrance fees of 7,50$/adults. Seniors have a rebate.

Pretty cool place to visit. Admission doesn't cost all that much and you get to learn a little bit of history.

Nice view ! and great place for picnic !

This place is calm and serene. It’s not that big of a Fort but it’s small and well maintained. Nice park grounds to relax, play some recreational games, watch the flowing water and flying birds. It’s a nice calming place to visit. Haven’t tried the cycling there so probably my next visit I am planning to do that

Very beautiful place for a picnic. The sunset is lovely.