Tens of thousands of Montrealers drive past the falaise St. Jacques every day and the city has declared it one of its “eco-territoires” (see pdf here) but few of us know very much about the unusual, long strip of greenspace.
This blog is about my research into its history and the various ideas about what to do with it.
If you wish to know a bit of history about this place, go see the Centre Historique de Saint-Henri. It’s located next to the Saint-Henri Metro station, in the fire station. (total right door) It is open on wednesday from 7pm to 9pm. Ask to go see the document upstairs. There’s a lot of photograph, but you need to pay to get them, but you can..
-marc
I was a police officer for many years in the area of the falaise. In your photo of June 29th, what was the point of the fence?
Many years ago in the 60’s and 70’s the many people of the Italian neighborhood above St. Jacques kept vegetable gardens on parts of the cliff and surrounded their plots with fences as seen in your picture. The cliffs were dotted with these little gardens.
Another hobby of sorts was dumping stolen cars over the cliff from St. James sic.
Very enjoyable article
Thanks
Great article!! I was a boy of 8 when I came from Italy and we lived across the street from the falaise. It was a wonderful playground for us the young and a way of continuing a somewhat rural life for our parents who enjoyed farming small gardens within its hills. We explored the wonders of steam engines as we moved in and around them at the bottom of the falaise and did some sandboarding and body sliding on the hills of fine sand that was used by the railway. We built rafts and sailed them across tiny ponds which allowed us to challenge our imagination and tested our developing boyhood skills. We played among the gardens and tore the tomatoes from the vines when our parents weren’t looking and gleefully threw them at each other. We ate the fava beans and left our elders wondering who the nasty kids were that did this – who were often their own. We took our pets for walks and walked with our young girlfriends in a private world among its green wonders. My cat ‘Quicky’ loved to wonder among its scents, odours and surprises tied to my hands by a leash – as he played my trusty partner in jungle exploration. We tore apart old cars that had been dumped in secluded sections – and used them as a test bed for understanding technology and developing a wonder for all things mechanical. It helped us to survive a stark transition from rural green to urban grey – as a biosphere between two worlds. Ultimately, it gave us an opportunity to play and develop in a new foreign world through a narrow window on the nature from which we came.
The “Montreal Melon” was known to be an NDG delight. I never did find out if it ever graced the Falaise. Maybe you will find out!
I like the picture