Percé village and Percé Rock
Percé is an attractive colorful village at the very tip of Gaspé Peninsula (or Gaspésie).
Gaspé Peninsula is stretching along the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in the Canadian province of Quebec (map) and Percé village is found just south of the mouth of the river entering the northern Atlantic.
Dominating spectacular scenery in Percé village is Percé Rock (Pierced Rock) or Rocher Percé in French, a block of limestone only at low tide still connected to the beach.
At the time when the first Europeans have reached the shores of North America, in this case when French explorer Jacques Cartier in 1534 landed at Rocher Percé, the Rock was connected to the Mont-Joli and it had two arches. Since then, lose rock fell so the Percé Rock is no longer connected to the mainland. In the summer of 1845, one of the arches had collapsed as well in to at times furious waters of northern Atlantic. Now, only one arch as a wonder of nature still stands.
Percé village and Percé Rock Photo Gallery
For the settlers who have build Percé village right from the start fishing became source of livelihood and the main driving force of the local economy. Despite of disappearing from the map after the English vs. French conflict in the late 17 century, in 1777 new 300 settlers had started from scratch and just as first generation of settlers century earlier have build strong fishing industry.
Due to harsh climate there is not much left of once prosperous French fishing village, even though charm of a few still standing buildings and architecture of newly build houses, hotels and restaurants reflect its past. Today, tourism is the main driving force behind this picture perfect gem in the eastern parts of Quebec and Canada.
Île-Bonaventure
Île-Bonaventure or Bonaventure Island is a bird sanctuary with a large Gannet birds colony (Morus bassanus).
Close proximity of the island to the coast, 2.2miles or 3.5km from Percé village, is a great opportunity to pay a visit to the Bonaventure Island and it’s around 40.000 birds strong Gannet colony.
Glamping at Camping Baie-De-Perce
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