Percé

The coast around Percé lies within the homelands of the Mi'kmaq, who called the place Sigsôg, "steep rocks", and Pelseg, "fishing place". Samuel de Champlain sailed past in 1603 and named the great rock Isle Percée, the pierced island. Through the 17th century the bay served mainly as a stopover for ships bound for Quebec, and under New France it was a seasonal fishing station rather than a settlement.

Permanent settlement began in the early 19th century with Irish, French Canadian and Jersey arrivals, and the parish of Saint-Michel-de-Percé was founded in 1801. Percé became the most important fishing place on the Gaspé Peninsula after Charles Robin, a merchant from Jersey, set up his fishing business here; some of the company's old buildings still stand in the town, now part of the national park. During the Second World War the Royal Canadian Navy ran a direction-finding and wireless intercept station at Cap-d'Espoir, taking bearings on German U-boats.

Tourism grew around the rock and the island. In 1971 Percé merged with five neighbouring municipalities and became a town. The national park protecting Bonaventure Island and Percé Rock was created in 1985, and in 2018 UNESCO accredited the Percé Geopark. The rail link to Montreal was suspended in 2013. The rock itself is slowly wearing away, losing an estimated 300 tonnes a year to water and wind, walking out to it at low tide is no longer allowed, and visitors are advised not to approach within 500 m because of the risk of rockfalls.

Percé is a member of the association of the Most Beautiful Villages of Quebec, and its identity is bound up with the view: the rock, which from a distance looks like a ship under sail, has long inspired painters, and their work hangs in Le Chafaud, the old waterfront warehouse. Local legend sees a phantom in the rock during storms, the Génie de l'Isle Percée.

The town's people descend from Mi'kmaq, French Canadian, Irish and Jersey families, and French is now the main language. Mont Sainte-Anne behind the town has been a religious site for centuries, with a grotto of the Virgin Mary and a waterfall on the trail.

Summer culture centres on the arts and the outdoors. Les Percéides, a film festival founded in 2009, screens films in August at the art centre and at La Vieille Usine, ending with a gala under the night sky on the beach, named for the Perseid meteor shower that falls at the same time. Birdwatching, whale watching, hiking and diving fill the rest of the season.

Percé had 3,095 residents at the 2021 census, almost unchanged from 2016, in a municipality of more than 430 km² that takes in a string of coastal communities, among them Barachois, Bridgeville, Cap-d'Espoir, Coin-du-Banc and L'Anse-à-Beaufils. It is also the seat of the judicial district of Gaspé.

Tourism is the main economic activity, and the town counts more than 500,000 visitors a year, most of them in the short summer season, when boat operators, restaurants, motels and shops are at full stretch. Fishing built the town in the days of Charles Robin's company, and a microbrewery based in L'Anse-à-Beaufils sells its beer across Quebec.

Life follows the season sharply. From mid-June to September the main street is crowded; outside it, many businesses close and the town returns to a small, quiet community spread along the coast road, where distances to larger towns and services are long and the nearest scheduled flights leave from Gaspé or Bonaventure.

Seafood is what Percé eats. Cod, the fish that founded the town, is still on every menu, alongside salmon, scallops, shrimp, crab and above all lobster, served in summer as whole lobster dinners and in sandwiches. Almost all of it comes from local waters. On Bonaventure Island, a restaurant in an old fish storehouse beside the landing serves an old-style Gaspé fish chowder with a hint of saffron.

Simpler food comes from roadside snack bars selling breaded cod, fish and chips, fried scallops and poutine, chips topped with cheese curds and gravy, and one snack bar is known locally for its seafood pizza. Smoked salmon also appears on local menus, and many places to eat close outside the summer season.

Craft beer has become part of the local table: Pit Caribou, brewed at L'Anse-à-Beaufils, has a pub in the town centre, and the bistro at La Vieille Usine cooks with Gaspé seafood, meat and produce from area farms.