Brome County, is a historical

county of Quebec A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

. It takes its name from the name of a manor in the parish of Barham in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

that was named after the

broom plant Genisteae is a tribe of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants in the subfamily Faboideae of the family Fabaceae. It includes a number of well-known plants including broom, lupine (lupin), gorse and laburnum. The tribe's greatest diversity is in ...

. It was named by English surveyors. The earliest settlers to this region were brought from New Hampshire by the Quaker leader,

Nicholas Austin Nicholas Austin (1736-1821) was one of the first Quakers in the province of Quebec and the founder of a Quaker settlement named Austin in Bolton Township, Brome County, Quebec, “on the west side of Lake Memphremagog in the 1790s.” Nicholas Au ...

in the 1790s. The county was formed in 1855 from parts of Stanstead, Shefford and Missisquoi counties. The county is located in the

Eastern Townships The Eastern Townships (french: Cantons de l'Est) is an historical administrative region in southeastern Quebec, Canada. It lies between the St. Lawrence Lowlands and the American border, and extends from Granby in the southwest, to Drummondv ...

, one of the 12 regions of Quebec. The county lies in the foothills of the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

. Its eastern half is rolling countryside while its western half is part of the

Richelieu River The Richelieu River () is a river of Quebec, Canada, and a major right-bank tributary of the St. Lawrence River. It rises at Lake Champlain, from which it flows northward through Quebec and empties into the St. Lawrence. It was formerly kno ...

plains. The county is roughly an upside-down "L" shape, bound on the south by the Canada–US border (along 45° for 17.5 km from 72° 15′ W in

Lake Memphremagog Lake Memphremagog (; french: Lac Memphrémagog) is a fresh water glacial lake located between Newport, Vermont, United States and Magog, Quebec, Canada. The lake spans both Quebec and Vermont, but is mostly in Quebec. Most of the watershed that ...

to 72° 41.5′ W), in the east by in part

and Stanstead County, in the north by Shefford County (45° 20′ N for 48 km from 72° 15′ W to 72° 52′ W) and in the west by Rouville and Missisquoi counties. The county is divided into five townships, three in the north and two in the south. The townships in the north are, from east to west, the Township of Bolton, the Township of Brome and the

Township of Farnham A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

. The southern townships are the Township of Potton in the east and the Township of Sutton in the west. The county seat is Knowlton in the Township of Brome. Notable physical features of the county include Mount Brome in the northwestern corner of the Township of Brome and the much larger

Mount Sutton Mont Sutton is a ski area in the Eastern Townships located within the town of Sutton, Quebec, Canada, about 5 km directly east of its urban district. In 1960, the hill was turned into a downhill ski centre by the Boulanger family. Known f ...

in the Township of Sutton, and

Brome Lake Brome Lake (french: Lac Brome) is a freshwater lake in the town of Brome Lake, in the Brome-Missisquoi regional county municipality of the Montérégie region of Quebec, Canada. It is the source of the Yamaska River. The name Brome Lake comes ...

in the eastern part of the Township of Brome, which flows into the

Yamaska River The Yamaska River is a river in southern Quebec, Canada. Sourcing water within the Eastern Townships, it ends its journey in Lake Saint-Pierre where it is a tributary to the Saint Lawrence River; altogether it is long. Crossing nearly twenty ...

, site of a famous duck farm. Along Lake Memphremagog in the Township of Potton are three mountains, from north to south,

Mount Sugar Loaf Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

, the larger

Mount Owl's Head Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

, and

Mount Bear Mount Bear is a high, glaciated peak in the Saint Elias Mountains of Alaska. It lies within Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park, about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of the Yukon border. The Barnard Glacier flows from its southwest slopes, while the K ...

. Owl's Head and Sutton are well-known ski hills. In the early 1980s the county was abolished and the western half was transferred to the new Regional County Municipality of Brome-Missisquoi and the eastern half was transferred to the Regional County Municipality of Memphrémagog. A small part in the northwest were transferred to the Regional County Municipality of La Haute-Yamaska.

Municipalities

* East Bolton * West Bolton * Brigham * Brome * East Farhnam * Eastman *

(Knowlton prior to 1971) *

Potton Potton is a town and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England, about east of the county town Bedford. Its population in 2011 was 4,870. In 1783 the Great Fire of Potton destroyed a large part of the town. The ...

* Saint-Étienne-de-Bolton *

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...

External links

Brome County Historical Society
{{Authority control Former counties of Quebec