Val David trip planner

Val-David is a village of almost 5,000 inhabitants located in the Laurentian Mountains about 80km north of Montreal, Quebec, Canada that attracts about 100,000 tourists a year. Val-David is predominantly Quebecer (i.e. French-speaking) and has a sizable minority anglophone population.The village is famous for its artistic character. Many renowned and amateur artists, writers and dancers live and have lived in Val-David, notably Québécois poet Gaston Miron, jazz bassist Charlie Biddle, and Alan Gerber the singer-songwriter.Val-David is also a centre for much outdoor recreational activity as its 2000acre Parc Dufresne is the most popular rock-climbing destination in eastern Canada. Additionally, the Parc Linéaire Le P'tit Train du Nord, a 200km bike trail, and groomed cross-country ski and snowshoe trails in Winter, run throughout the town's splendid nature.HistoryThe place was first known as Belisle's Mills, named after the owner of one of the area's first sawmills. In 1873, its post office opened under the name of Mont-Morin, renamed to Belisle's Mills in 1901. In 1917, the parish of Saint-Jean-Baptiste-de-Belisle or Bélisle was formed, detached from Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts. In 1921, the village municipality was officially established and named after the parish.In 1923, the post office was renamed to Val-David, which also became the official designation of the municipality in 1944. It pays tribute to Louis Athanase David (1882-1953), member of parliament for Terrebonne from 1916 to 1919 and secretary of Quebec from 1919 to 1936, and his father Laurent-Olivier David (1840-1926), member of the House of Commons and author of several books.