Lac des Nations is an

artificial lake A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

located in

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( ; ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional count ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It was created during the construction of a

hydroelectric dam Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

used to power the old Patton Co factory. Fed by the

Magog River The Magog River, or Sekosonotek in Abenaki, is a river that drains Lake Memphremagog. It is a small river running through the territories of the cities of Magog and Sherbrooke, in the administrative region of Estrie, in Quebec, in Canada, along a ...

, it is at the heart of the Cité des Rivières Project, which aims to promote tourism and the revitalization of Sherbrooke's rivers. Crossed by the

Central Maine and Quebec Railway The Central Maine & Québec Railway was a Class II freight railroad operating in the U.S. states of Maine and Vermont and the Canadian province of Quebec with headquarters in Bangor, Maine. It was owned by Railroad Acquisition Holdings, LLC, ...

(a piece of the pre-1994

Canadian Pacific The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

line to

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...

), it is bordered by the vast Parc Jacques-Cartier. Lac des Nations is the location of the

Jean Perrault Jean Perrault (born May 28, 1945), is a Canadian politician, who served as mayor of Sherbrooke, Quebec from 1994 to 2009, and as president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. In his capacity as president of the FCM, he was one of the m ...

Waterskiing Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a Surface water sports, surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a Cable skiing, cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or ...

school. Surrounding the Lac des Nations is a promenade. Attractions along the path include the a

water fountain A drinking fountain, also called a water fountain or water bubbler, is a fountain designed to provide drinking water. It consists of a basin with either continuously running water or a tap. The drinker bends down to the stream of water and s ...

, the Halte des Nations, and the Marché de la Gare public market. The

Orford Express The Orford Express was a tourist train between Magog and Sherbrooke, Quebec, operating seasonally on the former Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway line through Quebec's Eastern Townships. A dinner train which operated from early May to end-Dec ...

tourist train stopped near the Marché de la Gare. The annual

Fête du Lac des Nations The Fête du Lac des Nations is an annual festival held in Sherbrooke, Quebec in the month of July. It takes place in Parc Jacques-Cartier and features locally, regionally, and globally known musicians A musician is a person who composes, ...

is located in Parc Jacques-Cartier along the lake. Thousands of people attend and dance around a fire with necklaces around their necks.

References

Nations A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by t ...

Landforms of Sherbrooke {{quebec-geo-stub