The Notre Dame Mountains are a portion of the Appalachian Mountains, extending from the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec to the Green Mountains of Vermont. The range runs from northeast to southwest, forming the southern edge of the St. Lawrence River valley, and following the Canada–United States border between Quebec and Maine. The mountainous New Brunswick "panhandle" is located in the Notre Dame range as well as the uppermost reaches of the Connecticut River valley in New Hampshire. As the mountains are geologically old, they have eroded to an average height of around 600 m.

Etymology

Notre Dame is French for "Our Lady," a Catholic term referring to the Virgin Mary. While on an expedition on 15 August 1535, Jacques Cartier wrote: "Le landemain jour Notre Dame d'aoust XVe ... eusmes cognoissance de terres qui nous demouroient vers le su qui est une terre à haultes montaignes à merveilles" The jour Notre Dame d'aoust XVe refers to the feast of the Assumption of Mary, commemorated in the Catholic Church on 15 August. The following autumn, maps he authored carried the name "haultes montaignes de Honguedo." However, it was the title of "Notre Dame" that would propagate quickly throughout the 16th century, with French navigator Jean Alfonse referring to them as the "montz Nostre Dame" in his 1544 work Cosmographie, followed by Gerardus Mercator in 1569.

Geography

Topography

The Notre Dame Mountains are the principal subrange of the Appalachian Mountains in Quebec. Within Quebec, the range parallels the St. Lawrence River until its terminus at the eastern end of the Gaspé Peninsula. However, the southern limit of the range is the subject of some debate, though some sources consider either Lake Memphremagog or the US border as the southern edge of the Notre Dame Mountains. The Chic-Choc Mountains are one of the primary subranges of the Notre Dame Mountains. They are located in the northeastern part of the Gaspé Peninsula and are home to the tallest mountain in the range, Mont Jacques-Cartier, with an elevation of 1268 m. The other major subsection of the Notre Dame Mountains is the Massif du Sud, which is found in the southern part of the range, southeast of Quebec City, and reaches an elevation of 915 m.

Geology

Conservation

The Notre Dame Mountains are protected by several parks, both federally by Parks Canada and provincially by the Quebec Sépaq and New Brunswick: