Vercheres

Vercheres is an off island suburb of Montreal, in Monteregie, Quebec, located on the south bank of the Saint Lawrence River. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 5,243. In the 17th century, the settlement at Vercheres was the scene of an Iroquois raid that was apparently thwarted by the ingenuity of a 14 year old girl named Madeleine. A cast iron statue of Madeleine de Verchères stands today by the former location of the settlement stronghold on the shore of the Saint Lawrence river.

In French, the word Vercheres can be used as an adjective to describe a specific type of rowboat invented in  vercheres at the end of the 19th century, i.e. chaloupe  vercheres. A specimen of the rowboat is on permanent outdoor display during in the summer and fall in at the Parc Jean Marie Moreau across from the town office. The motto of Verchères is "In Tenebris Lumen Rectis Corde". The streets of  vercheres are mostly named after the patronyms of residing families but also after local people who rose to celebrity in Canadian history.