Joseph Hovington married Alexandrine Blackburn in 1842 at La Malbaie and settled in Tadoussac. He was a sailor. He had three children and built his home on the actual site of Tremblay House.
In 1903, Sarah Jourdain, married to Johnny Gauthier from Sacré-Coeur (our great grandparents), bought the house.
As you can see from the adjoining photograph, the house had one and a half floors, a two-sided roof and two dormer windows in the front.
Our grandfather Armand Tremblay and our grandmother Blanche Gauthier, daughter of Sarah and Johnny, made major renovations to the house in the 1920’s.
In the following photograph, you can notice that a second floor and a bay-window were added.
The family picture shows our grandparents with their children Jean-Jude, Lucille, Maurice and Pierre. Julienne was still to come. The roof and balcony are not quite finished. The house next door still exists today and is known as the Pick-Up Grillé restaurant.
This is a picture of the enlarged house. The fiber-cement covering that can be seen today had not yet been applied.
Armand Tremblay, our grandfather, passed away in 1946. Our grandmother, Blanche Gauthier, raised her family and, later on, always invited her children and grandchildren for unforgettable Summer Holidays.
Blanche passed away in 1978. Her son, Pierre, inherited the house. Being a renovation entrepreneur, Pierre built a workshop and shed that can still be seen behind Tremblay House.
With his wife, Thérèse Ouellet, he continued the tradition of receiving his brothers and sisters and their children during the summer and winter Holidays.
Pierre Tremblay died in 1991. Thérèse inherited the house but also the upkeep that became more and more a burden as the years went by.
In April of 1993, the Town of Tadoussac designated Tremblay House as an interesting element of its community’s heritage. The town recognized care taken by its successive owners to maintain the home’s authenticity.
Because of health issues, Thérèse Ouellet left Tremblay House in 2017.
In 2018 we became owners of Tremblay House. Now it is our turn to preserve the house’s character.
We have transformed the summer kitchen that was not insulated into a modern year-round kitchen, without changing its exterior dimensions. We replaced four of its windows, using wooden frames to blend-in with the other existing windows.
All of the rooms have been renovated. Three new bathrooms have been added, one of them being wheelchair-friendly.
All of the flooring was leveled and redone. A wheelchair user can now go anywhere on the ground floor. We even kept an inside door used by aunt Thérèse to write different notes. The door, pictured below, gives access to the handicapped-friendly bathroom.
Tremblay House is now set for a great and exciting future.
That of welcoming families who, like ours, take pleasure in discovering Tadoussac and its many attractions. Enjoy your stay!
Tina Tremblay, Maurice’s daughter
Robert Tremblay, Jean-Jude’s son
Tremblay House 