Almost halfway between Stanstead on the Canada-US border and Sherbrooke, Coaticook is a typical sleepy town with the rustic charm of the days of the horse and buggy. The landscape resembles that of southeastern French pre-Alps with the isolation of the Appalachian mountains.
About one in five of the remaining covered bridges in Quebec are in the southern part of the eastern townships. Take a drive on some of the back roads in the area and you’ll find signs pointing drivers to covered bridges.
However, this town is most well known for having the longest suspended footbridge in Canada. It crosses a 70-metre deep gorge on the Coaticook River in a regional park, but it is only open during summers. The place is named koatikeku by the Abenakis people meaning river of the land of pines.
The Norton Mansion was built in 1912 by Arthur Osmore Norton, a prominent local businessman. In 1964, Denise Beaulne founded the Beaulne Museum in the local city hall, it moved into the Norton Mansion in 1976. Its main exhibits are turn-of-the-century fashion and textiles.
I was told that the agricultural land in and around the county grow cattle feed. Local creameries produce milk and cream, the Benedictine abbey at Saint-Benoît-du-Lac near Magog has the best cheese in the region.
