Cantley 1889 Articles
The following article first appeared in The Echo of Cantley Volume 35 no 2, August 2023. This article is made available for the enjoyment of others with the express permission of the Echo of Cantley.
Allo Camping and the Marvelous Marsolaises
By Michael Rosen with thanks to Glenn Gervais and the Marsolais family for their cooperation
Have you ever wondered how Mont Joël, rue Marsolais and rue Noémie got their names? It’s a wonderful (and common) Cantley story - people seeking their piece of country paradise.
A travelling salesman from Berthierville, Hector Marsolais, met his wife Pauline Rousseau while renting a chalet near her hometown of Ville Marie, in Temiskaming. In 1956 they married in Gatineau, where Hector sold insurance and real estate. They had two children, Lyne who became a teacher in several school boards, and Suzanne, a nurse who worked at the Gatineau Hospital for 35 years. Between Lyne and Suzanne, they had three children – Joël, Noémie and Mikaël (the family had a love for accented names).
In 1969, they bought 200 acres of land from the Cashman family around the same time as the Clermonts (see l’Echo, July 2022 – George’s Western Valley Ranch). Recreational camping was in its infancy, and so in 1972 they founded Allo Camping situated at what is now rue Mont Joël and Impasse du Colonel. Hector and Pauline made the move to Cantley in 1973. With 150 camping sites, Allo Camping turned out to be, in the family’s words,“a lot of work”. With the family doing the reception, casse croûte, electricity, plumbing, reception etc., and with Hector still working in real estate, they could not keep up with demand. The enterprise closed in 1978. All that remains today is a cedar hedge planted by one of the 70’s campers to hide their trailer.
Hector however had other plans. He raised rabbits for meat (careful to not “transform” the rabbits in front of his girls), chinchillas for their fur (when fur coats were the rage) and made maple syrup, one of the first to use the plastic “pipeline” system in Cantley. He was a “jack of all trades” but a really good carpenter and woodworker - utilizing a large, heritage barn on the property.
In about 2000, Hector designed his own subdivision, dividing the land into 180 lots, creating streets such as Mont Joël, Marsolais, Noémie, Boisé, Murier, Grosseilliers and Poiriers. He originally called the development “The Garden of Eden”. One of the provisions of the subdivision agreement with the municipality was that the old barn, constructed by the Cashmans in the mid 1900s, be retained by the municipality. The family was devastated when the barn with all its treasured memories was demolished in 2019 for a parking lot.
Hector was described by his family as passionate, productive, at times obsessed - a generous man who at the end of his life was confined to a wheelchair where he knit tuques and made rosaries. He passed away in 2013 at age 81.
Today, the Marsolais legacy lives on. Three generations of Marsolais’ (granddaughter Noémie, daughter Suzanne and mother Pauline) live in a multi-generational arrangement near the original home. Other daughter Lyne lived across the street until very recently. Mikaël and Joël are the rebels – living in far away Limbour and Gatineau respectively. L’école l’Orée du Bois is located on Marsolais land. Although the days of developers naming street names for their family have passed, the names Noémie, Marsolais (the name Mikaël was rejected for reasons unknown) and Joël will be with us forever – and with that, the marvelous Marsolais legacy lives on!
