Domaine Charlevoix was founded in the early 1990s with the combination of several parcels of land which were, at the time, zoned for farming or forestry. The resulting property, totaling roughly 520 acres, or more than 22 million square feet, was converted into a nature park by Dr. André Gilbert, a resident of Quebec City, for the purpose of letting the local community and tourists to the Charlevoix area delight in the undeniable beauty of this site, which has been open to the public since 1991. The Félix-Antoine-Savard terrace, located at an altitude of 390 metres, boasts a superb view of the horizon, with the river known as Petite-Rivière-Saint-François and its highlands to the west, the Plateau des Éboulements to the east, Isle-aux-Coudres in the foreground and, in the distance, the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, stretching from Montmagny to Notre-Dame-du-Portage.

Thus was born Domaine Charlevoix. The first development work to be carried out involved establishing a series of trails running through the site from the highest peaks all the way down to the river banks. Over the years, the site has been embellished with the construction of an Anglo-Norman-style visitor centre, a restaurant with an immense panoramic terrace, a tea room—a French-style pavilion overlooking a small lake, a second terrace at the base of the mountain and lookouts providing a marvelous view of the park’s 22- and 30-metre-high waterfalls. In addition the ruins of an old manor house have been preserved and select hiking paths have been adorned with flowers and soothing strains of easy-listening music—all of which serve to add even more charm to this one-of-a-kind site.