In 2013 when My Rare One and I visited Quebec City, we splurged on a ride in a horse-drawn calèche through the streets of the Old City. The tour also went just outside the city's historic stone walls to Battlefields Park, a long, manicured green space now used for sports, relaxation, outdoor concerts and festivals.
However, this green space on top of the steep Quebec escarpment is better known in military history as the Plains of Abraham. It was here that France lost its colony of French Canada to the British following a surprise attack and brief battle in 1759.
Back through the Old City gate, our carriage driver stopped by a particular tree and showed us how it had grown right over a cannonball fired during that famous battle, which had landed inside the city walls. We ooh-ed and aah-ed like good tourists but secretly had our doubts. Does that tree look 250 years old to you?
Closer inspection showed that it was not a cannonball at all, but an old-fashioned bomb that originally would have required ignition via a fuse.
On the basis of an old photo of a nearby street, an historian speculated that this (and other) de-activated bombs had been deliberately affixed along the way as wheel guards to protect homes from passing carriages. In time, a tree grew over one of them and voilà! A folk legend was born!
Farewell, Cannonball Tree! I'm glad we got to see you when we did.
[Photos #1-4 © Debra She Who Seeks, June 2013; Photo #5 © Radio-Canada, 2021; Photo #6 is from the Internet; Photo #7 © La Collection Gino Gariépy, 1908]
44 comments:
how did i miss this? i've been to quebec (one of my favorite places) a bunch of times and missed this.
And so the story goes. This is wonderful.
Quebec is on the list of places to go, If Canada ever lets Americans back across the border.
I hadn’t seen the latest report. Thank you for sharing!
Fascinating!
I love how it became this legend that everybody took for true. And people used deactivated bombs as wheel guards? Whoa.
Also, I think that horse-drawn calèche rides are soooo romantic!
XOXO
I loved reading about this. I'm glad you got to see it when you did too. :)
They say if you reach out your arms and hug a tree each span equals 70 years. Or something like that. I was going to say, no, it doesn't look that old, but then the it looked bigger being removed. A great tale whatever the reality.
I'm thinking of an old adage, poem (?) "scratch a myth, find a fact" or in this case, uproot a tree, find out you had it all wrong for years...
I have been to montreal, but not quebec city. interesting story; sorry it turned out not to be true.
we have legends in this city too.
I like both stories, but, yeah, that tree wasn't 250!
Brings back great memories for me. I used to live there; my daughter was born there.
So were do ya think they put that cannonball tree. Hopefully they attempted to plant it somewhere else.
BTW.......thanks for being so supportive of my little posts....it means the world to me.
Jo
What an interesting story. When I was in Quebec City I didn't know about that point of interest.
The British put all those leftover French cannon balls to good use then.... up-cycling for 21st century tourism!
Hello Debra, They must not have much snow in Quebec if they can use such short bollards. Perhaps the point was to make drivers more careful to stay in the center of the driveway!
--Jim
Wow what a great post. I love the story of the cannonball tree. Have a great day.
That shows why one should never believe everything we're told. Interesting to see the Heights of Abraham - we all learnt about General Wolf at school here when the British Empire wasn't a non-PC topic.
I don't remember seeing it in my many visits to Quebec City. I want to go back there, last time was for Easter 2006 I think.
Actually no, it was Easter 2010.
Wow. This shows you that rumors can be started and perpetuated for many, many years. Very interesting.
It's said the tree was an American Elm. Hardly any exist anymore. The tree itself was a legend, as it escaped the Dutch Elm disease that wiped out most American Elms when I was still a child. Nice post.
Hey, what's this? Well, it's a bomb! Should we leave it after the tree is gone? After all, it's history.
A good story is hard to let go.
It's sad that the tree had to be removed, but the photo is interesting, as is the story of the "cannonball." We once went on a carriage ride in Victoria, B.C. It was lovely.
Love,
Janie
I love the fact that a tree grew on top of a bomb no matter what the reason!
That is absolutely crazy! What a fantastic story.
Well, that shows how much I know. It looks like a bowling ball to me. Good thing I wasn't around it, I'd be poking and prodding it.
Interesting! Fingers crossed we will all be travelling again soon!
Well that is a bit of fun. To bad it died. Now that carriage driver has lost a point of interest.
No surprise that the tree died..It couldn't have gotten much water with all the concrete surrounding it..Too bad...Interesting "tale"..good story!!
Interesting.
the Ol'Buzzard
Sneaky tree- fooling people for 250 years. But "old bomb tree" doesn't have a good ring to it.
Fun story, Debra.
Cool legend. Too bad that now future tourists won't hear or see the Cannonball Tree.
It's a good story. Clever idea using the de-activated bombs to protect the houses.
Oh wow...great history.
I want to go to Quebec, and soon! What a story!
Wow! I love how your visit makes the story real for me. I wonder if you or your Rare One got nervous when you guys went by the tree...
What a legend. Thanks for sharing those!
Oh that's wild! It's pretty cool you got to see it before it got removed.
Very interesting
wow such an interesting sharing Debra !
how nice you both were there as city looks fantastic and lush :)
never heard such amazing tale before
glad you shared and glad that tree could survive over the bomb for more than two hundred years wow
That is so interesting and cool Deb!!!
So interesting, Debra! There is truth in every legend.
no matter the story..hate to see the old tree go..sad.
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