Growing up in Quebec

I was lucky to have been raised in a perfect little town. We moved there when I was maybe 5 or 6. Just before I was born it was known as St Eustache-sur-le-lac, but in 1963 it was renamed Deux Montagnes, or Two Mountains as us English called it.

I don't really know why my dad moved us there in 1966(?), but it might have had to do with the low price of renting and real estate compared to Laval or Montreal, where we had lived previously.

What made Two Mountains unique was its location. Right on the north shore of Lac des Deux Montagnes, which is sort of the convergence of the Ottawa River as it meets Riviere des Mille Iles. Across from us was Laval Ouest, the western tip of the island of Laval.

Northwest of us was farm land and apple orchards. A little further upstream, just as you round the bend to the Ottawa River was Oka, famous for its monastery and their cheese. Just northeast of us was St Eustache. Two Mountains started out as a place where people built summer homes, then started staying year round. This was made possible and quite attractive as a result of the CN commuter rail line that came out to our town from downtown Montreal. In fact, our town was the end of the commuter line. It probably shouldn't have even come out this far, but rumour has it that the idea was for CN employees and their families to use the rail line to get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city and relax in Two Mountains and its beautiful beach.

That's right, we had a beach. There aren't many records of it online, but based on this picture I found doing a little digging, it was called Plage Brunette, then later, renamed to El Rancho Beach. You can see the train bridge not too far off at left.

Two Mountains had some nice parks with decent sports fields, considering its population at the time of less than 8,000. We had a Dairy Queen! But it was a walk-up counter style place that was only open during summer months. It's still there too, but is now a bigger, enclosed store open year-round.

We had a movie theatre on the main street, Oka Road, called the Normandie, that has 25 cent movies back in the early 1970s. I remember going there to watch Swiss Family Robinson.

You could always hear the church bells on Sunday. That's something unique to very specific towns in Eastern Canada, but especially in Quebec. I wouldn't be surprised if every town in Quebec had church bells. It's a sound you don't realize you miss until it's been absent and you hear it again.

The town had a nice amount of forest at its north end that was a pleasure to walk through, and was home to many kids' hideaways, complete with fire pits. Not much remains of that forest, but you can still see a few tree stands south and west of the newer Deux Montagnes train station, named Reserve Naturelle du Boise-Roger-Lemoine on the map.

There were some wonderful places that bring a lot of nostalgia back to its current and former residents from the 60s and 70s. Jed's, which I've blogged about before, was a favourite pit stop for candy and kids novelties right near the old train station. Long gone now and demolished to make way for the new modern train line currently being built. Mario's Pool Hall, across from the original Lake of Two Mountains High School (now Ecole des Mesanges). Mario's had in my humble opinion, the best home cut fries I've ever eaten and a killer juke box. It was the cause of many a high school student being late to class. 

Two Mountains was the perfect place to grow up. Safe. Friendly. My mom never locked the front door, even when she went out. That's a habit she didn't break for a long time.

Lots of waterfront. Did I mention the beach? It's gone now unfortunately. A 50 minute long train ride and you found yourself in downtown Montreal.