Trivia quiz #10: Gatineau legends, a ruined church and a quirky traffic light

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Welcome to the Ottawa Road Trips trivia game for the week of May 25, 2020!

Many thanks to everyone who played last week’s game. Our winner is reader Leonard Heitin, and a $10 Tim Horton’s e-gift card is headed his way. I’ve updated last week’s game with the answers.

Here are 10 more questions to test your knowledge of places in Ontario, Quebec and beyond. Each question includes a handy link to a post where you’ll find the answer. NOTE: This week’s game has closed in terms of being able to win the prize, but you’re welcome to play for fun. I’ve updated the post to include the answers at the very bottom. As always, note that this is virtual travel only—please wait to actually visit these places until the COVID-19 crisis ends.

Question 1: A lovely ruin

What is the name of this national historic site in Williamstown—partway between Alexandria and Lancaster? It is the shell of a grand church that was largely destroyed by fire in 1970.

Question 2: Raise a glass

What Outaouais craft brewery makes a honey-accented beer called La Reine du Mont Vinoy?

Question 3: Discover a mica mine

What provincial park in Eastern Ontario is home to an abandoned mica mine known as the Silver Queen?

Question 4: Christmas tradition

What is the name of this festive conveyance, which usually visits several Eastern Ontario communities in November or December each year?

Question 5: A prime minister’s watch

For the second week in a row, I have a question about Mackenzie King! At what national historic site in Ottawa might participants on a white glove tour be able to pick up and examine King’s pocket watch?

Question 6: Castles in the sand

Naturally enough (given its name), what provincial park in Prince Edward County traditionally hosts a big sandcastle festival called SandFest each July?

Question 7: Author, author

Charles Leslie McFarlane was born in Carleton Place and lived there until he was 8. As an adult, under the pen name Franklin W. Dixon, he would go on to write 19 novels in what classic children’s book series?

Question 8: An Irish-American traffic light

In what upstate New York city‘s Tipperary Hill neighbourhood would you find an upside-down traffic light (with red on the bottom)? According to what is likely an urban legend, the light was installed that way because the Irish-American locals couldn’t stand the idea of any object where “British” red was placed higher than “Irish” green. (As an Irish descendant myself, I can easily imagine this story taking hold and growing.)

Question 9: Ottawa landmarks

It was built in just two months in 1898. It was the site where the first Ottawa Senators won the Stanley Cup in 1904. It’s been a skating arena, a horseback-riding school and a recruiting centre, among other things. Its nickname is the Cattle Castle, but what is the official name of this beautiful domed building at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa?

Question 10: Outaouais movies

What type of watercraft takes to the air in a Gatineau Valley legend about a group of loggers who made a pact with the Devil—a story that the National Film Board later made into a 10-minute animated movie?

And here are the answers!

1. St. Raphael’s Ruins
2. Les Brasseurs de Montebello
3. Murphy’s Point Provincial Park
4. The CP Holiday Train
5. Laurier House
6. Sandbanks Provincial Park
7. The Hardy Boys
8. Syracuse
9. The Aberdeen Pavilion
10. A (flying) canoe

P.S.: If you enjoy learning about Eastern Ontario, the Outaouais and points beyond, please subscribe to my free weekly e-newsletter.