The Pointe-a-la-Renommee lighthouse (1906) was dismantled and moved to Quebec City in 1997. Twenty years later, it was back here — on the site chosen by Guglielmo Marconi for the first maritime radio station in North America. ( Alan Solomon/Chicago Tribune )
Remote Gaspe Peninsula is worth the trip for lovers of lighthouses — and good stories.
The lamp atop the wooden lighthouse at La Martre, built in 1906 and still using a nonautomated rotating mechanism during the day, glows over the St. Lawrence River. ( Alan Solomon/Chicago Tribune )
A fin whale, among others, was spotted on a whale-watching excursion off the Gaspe Peninsula. (Alan Solomon/Chicago Tribune )
A visit to Gaspesie is incomplete without viewing Perce Rock, one of Canada’s natural treasures. (Alan Solomon/Chicago Tribune )
The Cape-Gaspe lighthouse, on a cliff overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is the easternmost of the Gaspe beacons. ( Alan Solomon/Chicago Tribune )
A young visitor gets her hands on a starfish at Exploramer, a sea-discovery attraction in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts. ( Alan Solomon/Chicago Tribune )
There’s no shortage of artistic expression in Gaspesie — and most of it isn’t as puzzling as the tide-sensitive statuary of Marcel Gagnon in Sainte-Flavie. ( Alan Solomon/Chicago Tribune )
A black bear in Forillon National Park stops to smell the wildflowers. (Alan Solomon/Chicago Tribune )
The cod fishery — which sustained Gaspe for generations — may be all but gone, but lobstermen and crabbers working out of villages like L’Anse-a-Beaufils continue to do just fine. ( Alan Solomon/Chicago Tribune )
A moose munches on a hearty salad of local greens in Forillon National Park. (Alan Solomon/Chicago Tribune )
Northern gannets, top, coexist peaceably with common murres on Bonaventure Island, part of Ile-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Perce National Park. (Alan Solomon/Chicago Tribune )
Some of the 50,000 nesting pairs of northern gannets on Bonaventure Island. (Alan Solomon/Chicago Tribune )
Elsie, a peony named for its breeder, Elsie Reford, blooms for all to enjoy in Reford Gardens/Jardins de Metis in Grand-Metis. (Alan Solomon/Chicago Tribune )
