The Notre Dame Mountains are a portion 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 ...

, extending from the

Gaspé Peninsula The Gaspé Peninsula, also known as Gaspesia (; ), is a peninsula along the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River that extends from the Matapedia Valley in Quebec, Canada, into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It is separated from New Brunswick o ...

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 ...

to the

Green Mountains The Green Mountains are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont. The range runs primarily south to north and extends approximately from the border with Massachusetts to the border with Quebec, Canada. The part of the same range that is in ...

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. The range runs from northeast to southwest, forming the southern edge of the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

valley, and following the

Canada–United States border The border between Canada and the United States is the longest international border in the world. The terrestrial boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Can ...

between Quebec and

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

. The mountainous New Brunswick "panhandle" is located in the Notre Dame range as well as the uppermost reaches of the

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...

valley in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. As the mountains are geologically old, they have

erode Erode () is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Erode is the seventh largest urban agglomeration in the state, after Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Tiruppur and Salem. It is also the administrative headquarters of the E ...

d to an average height of around .

Etymology

''Notre Dame'' is French for "Our Lady," a Catholic term referring to

the Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

. While on an expedition on 15 August 1535,

Jacques Cartier Jacques Cartier ( , also , , ; br, Jakez Karter; 31 December 14911 September 1557) was a French-Breton maritime explorer for France. Jacques Cartier was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of th ...

wrote: The ''jour Notre Dame d'aoust XVe'' refers to the feast of the

Assumption of Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by Go ...

, commemorated in the Catholic Church on 15 August. The following autumn, maps he authored carried the name "''haultes montaignes de Honguedo."'' However, it was the title of "Notre Dame" that would propagate quickly throughout the 16th century, with French navigator

Jean Alfonse Jean Fonteneau, dit Alfonse de Saintonge (also spelled Jean Allefonsce) or João Afonso in Portuguese (also spelled João Alfonso) (, Portugal – December 1544 or 1549, off La Rochelle) was a Portuguese navigator, explorer and corsair, promin ...

referring to them as the "''montz Nostre Dame''" in his 1544 work ''Cosmographie'', followed by

Gerardus Mercator Gerardus Mercator (; 5 March 1512 – 2 December 1594) was a 16th-century geographer, cosmographer and Cartography, cartographer from the County of Flanders. He is most renowned for creating the Mercator 1569 world map, 1569 world map based on ...

in 1569.

Geography

Topography

The Notre Dame Mountains are the principal subrange of the Appalachian Mountains in Quebec. Within Quebec, the range parallels the St. Lawrence River until its terminus at the eastern end of the Gaspé Peninsula. However, the southern limit of the range is the subject of some debate, though some sources consider either

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 ...

or the US border as the southern edge of the Notre Dame Mountains. The

Chic-Choc Mountains The Chic-Choc Mountains, also spelled Shick Shocks, is a mountain range in the central region of the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec, Canada. It is a part of the Notre Dame Mountains, which is a continuation of the Appalachian Mountains. History The ...

are one of the primary subranges of the Notre Dame Mountains. They are located in the northeastern part of the Gaspé Peninsula and are home to the tallest mountain in the range,

Mont Jacques-Cartier Mount Jacques-Cartier (french: Mont Jacques-Cartier) is a mountain in the Chic-Choc Mountains range in eastern Quebec, Canada. At , it is the tallest mountain in southern Quebec, and the highest mountain in the Canadian Appalachians. Located in ...

, with an elevation of . The other major subsection of the Notre Dame Mountains is the

Massif du Sud The Massif du Sud is a ski mountain about southeast of Quebec City, Canada. It is part of the park of the same name, the Parc du Massif du Sud. Description The Massif du Sud is located between the villages of Saint-Magloire and Saint-Phil ...

, which is found in the southern part of the range, southeast of

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

, and reaches an elevation of .

Geology

Conservation

The Notre Dame Mountains are protected by several parks, both federally by

Parks Canada Parks Canada (PC; french: Parcs Canada),Parks Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Parks Canada Agency (). is the agency of the Government of Canada which manages the country's 48 National Parks, th ...

and provincially by the Quebec Sépaq and New Brunswick: *

Forillon National Park Forillon National Park (french: Parc national de Forillon), one of 42 national parks and park reserves across Canada, is located at the outer tip of the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec and covers . Created in 1970, Forillon was the first nationa ...

Bic National Park Bic National Park is an national park of Quebec, Canada, located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, near the villages of Le Bic and Saint-Fabien, southwest of Rimouski. It was founded on October 17, 1984, and is home to large popula ...

Frontenac National Park Frontenac National Park (french: Parc national de Frontenac) is a 156.5 km2 provincial park in southeastern Quebec, Canada, created in 1987 and governed by Société des établissements de plein air du Québec. The park is located along Lac ...

Lake Témiscouata National Park A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

Gaspésie National Park Gaspésie National Park (french: Parc national de la Gaspésie) is a provincial park located south of the town of Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, Quebec, Canada in the inland of the Gaspé peninsula. The park contains the highest peak of the Appalachian Mo ...

Mount Carleton Provincial Park Mount Carleton Provincial Park, established in 1970, is the largest provincial park in the Province of New Brunswick, Canada. It encompasses in the remote highlands of north-central New Brunswick. The park is a lesser-known gem of the Atlantic Ca ...

References