The Moore House: Elegant and distinctive

Alvin H. Moore: The Perfect Son-in-Law

From the bay and the point where the Hermitage Club stands today, to the foot of Mount Owl’s Head, passing the shores where the Saint-Benoît-du-Lac Abbey would eventually be established, Alvin Head Moore (1838-1911) knew the banks of Lake Memphremagog intimately. He had to. When he took over the general store of his father-in-law, Ralph Merry V (1809-1887), at the turn of the 1860s, overland trade was still a difficult endeavor. Consequently, he resupplied via the waterways, trading with farmers located all along the blue expanse as far as Newport, Vermont. To simplify business, he accepted trade in kind, exchanging various goods that the farmers needed.

Fortune smiled upon him, and around 1865, A.H. built this house, reminiscent of the Neo-Gothic Cottages popular in the United States at the time. With its large gable dormer, steep roof, and ornate columns, it remains the pride of the street today, housing the Microbrasserie Memphré. Ralph seems to have quickly recognized in his son-in-law an entrepreneurial spirit similar to his own. Together, they embarked on a railway adventure and were the driving force behind bringing the Magog & Waterloo Railway to the locality, finally breaking its isolation. It is said that laying the tracks through the lands crossed by the Cherry River was particularly difficult, but we are certain that the locomotive engineers who pass by the Bleu Lavande estate and its incredible fields today are grateful for it!

Moore: The Orator

It appears that Moore was also a skilled communicator. Along with Ralph, he succeeded in bringing investors into surprising projects, notably the Magog Textile & Print, the first factory in Canada to practice industrial printing on cotton fabric. Later absorbed by Dominion Textile, parts of this complex are still used by businesses today, such as the excellent coffee roaster Fitch Bay and the decadent fondue restaurant Fondissimo. A.H. Moore even had the chance to practice his eloquence over the telephone, his house received one of Magog's first three handsets in 1887, and as far as the House of Commons. Indeed, he possessed a political streak, becoming the mayor of Magog in 1888 and the Member of Parliament for Stanstead from 1896 to 1900.

Moore: The Urban Planner?

Moore was neither an urban planner nor an architect, but his interventions in the layout of modern urban Magog left a lasting mark. By involving himself directly in rail and maritime transport, as he was involved in steam navigation projects on the lake, he enabled the area's growth as a premier tourist destination.

What would he say today seeing that hiking trails and a music festival have taken over Mount Orford? Or that an award-winning vineyard, Le Cep d’Argent, is located nearby?

Or that the owners of his house, now a microbrewery, are also behind the exquisite restaurant Les Enfants Terribles?
Perhaps we would find him at the Venise Golf Club hitting a few balls or even, true to his curiosity for new things, behind the wheel of a racing machine at Karting Orford!