This area belongs to the Eastern Townships, or the “Garden of Quebec” that stretches from the Richelieu River valley to the Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont borders in the US. Set among rolling hills, farmland, woods, and lakes in a landscape similar to the Appalachians, the Townships are among Canada’s top maple syrup producers.

Lac Memphrémagog itself is long, narrow, and surrounded by mountains. It even boasts its own monster, a creature named Memphré, first spotted in 1798. The lake’s southern quarter dips into the state of Vermont, so it is no surprise that the British Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution were this region’s first settlers. Their influence can be seen in the late 19th-century redbrick and wood-frame homes of lakeside villages such as enchanting Georgeville and Vale Perkins, and in the resort city of Magog at the northern end of the lake.

Benedictine monks from France bought one of the lake’s most beautiful sites in 1912 and established the Abbaye Saint-Benoît-du-Lac. Today the monks produce cider and a celebrated blue cheese called l’Ermite. They are also renowned for Gregorian chant, and visitors can hear them sing mass in the abbey church.