Mille Roches summer residence, Pointe-au-Pic (La Malbaie).
© Musée de Charlevoix, Mackenzie coll.
William Hume Blake (1809‒1870) was the first Blake to come to the Charlevoix region. Born into an influential family in Ireland, he settled in Toronto, where he held important positions as a lawyer, politician and judge. He discovered the Charlevoix while he was stationed in Québec as the Solicitor General of Upper Canada during& the 1850s. He often stayed in Chamard’s Lorne House at Pointe-au-Pic.
After his death, Blake’s two sons built their own summer home at Pointe-au-Pic. Edward, lawyer and politician in the Liberal party, built the Red House in 1874. During the same period, Samuel built Mille Roches, shown in this photograph. Edward’s and Samuel’s families were accustomed to the steamer trip from Toronto to La Malbaie, then called Murray Bay.