The Hotel du Lac Manoir Hotel

In most settlements a hotel was to be found early on. The first ones I have heard of was Leblanc’s on 3rd Avenue. (It was moved to Canadiana Village.) and Harley’s Hotel on 4th Avenue.

The earliest hotels found in photos are the Hotel du Lac (The Manoir Hotel) and the Balmoral (Rawdon Inn).

Stables were kept at the back of the building to shelter horses while the owner went about his business in town, dropping in to the hotel to pay his bill for stabling and taking a little “refreshment” while gathering the latest gossip about town. Without media coverage, hotels and garages were ideal places to catch up on the latest.The benches on the gallery were ideal to watch the world go by.

The man on the right side is entering the “tavern”, strictly a domain for men only. One woman was known to ignore this limitation saying she worked in the bush as well as any man. She was tolerated as no one dared challenge her presence.

The saloon in the front welcomed ladies.