This little house experienced major floods in 1947 and 1996 and survived to become the Petite Maison Blanche Museum. Find it in Chicoutimi, where it was built around 1890 in the Canadian province of Québec. It was originally surrounded by commercial and residential buildings. The other buildings crumbled from the events, leaving the log beam house as the solitary remaining building.
The first event occurred when flood waters overcame a nearby dam. The owners then decided that they would fortify the building with a foundation anchored to bedrock. Almost 50 years later, a rainstorm dumped about 8 inches (200 millimeters), causing poorly maintained dams and dykes to fail and resulting in more than a billion dollars in damage. Imagine the amazement when the only building left standing was the little white house.
The municipal government decided there wouldn’t be any more construction in the area and instead created a large park encircling the house. To mark the building’s integrity and strength, it became a museum in 2005. Visit the museum and learn about the disasters and the tenacity of this little building.
The museum is enjoyable for all family members, with displays showing the community before the flood, a French-language video of the event and lifelike robotic replicas of the home’s original owners. Think about its miraculous history including withstanding a force equivalent to Niagara Falls.
The nearby Pulperie de Chicoutimi Regional Museum tells of this region’s wood pulp industry as well as the area’s arts community, with focus on a well-known local painter, Arthur Villeneuve. Tour Chicoutimi and its location along the Saguenay River with its captivating fjords.
Pay for admission to the Petite Maison Blanche Museum and use the free parking. The site is open during the warmer months but does not have accessibility.
Find the borough of Chicoutimi near the Saguenay River in the city of Saguenay. Drive north from Québec City in just over 2 hours, or about 5 hours from Montréal. Alternatively, consider the 4.5-hour scenic drive from Québec City along the St. Lawrence River to Tadoussac and then along the Saquenay River.
