Three Pines Inspirations Map (Louise Penny)

Three Pines Inspirations Map from Louise Penny's books. Three Pines does not exist, however many elements of the village were inspired by different places in Eastern Townships and here are some !

Abbey – The Beautiful Mystery – Chapter 3: A waitress took their plates and a cheese platter arrived.  “These are all from the monastery at Saint-Benoit-du-Lac”, said Olivier, waving a cheese knife over the platter. “Their vocation is making cheese and Gregorian chants. All their cheeses are named after saints. Here’s Saint- Andre and this one’s St-Albray”.

Inspiration destination: Abbaye St-Benoit-du-Lac,
1 Main St., Saint-Benoit-du-Lac Qc. J0B 2M0

Bistro – Brutal Telling – Chapter 2: It was a restful room. The fires at either end of the beamed bistro took the gloom out of the day. Their light gleamed off the polished wood floors, darkened by years of smoke and farmer’s feet. Sofas and large inviting armchairs sat in front of each fireplace, their fabric faded. Old chairs were grouped round dark wooden dining tables. In front on the mullioned bay windows three or four wing chairs waited for villagers nursing steaming café au lait and croissants, or scotches, or burgundy wine.

Inspiration destination: Any Knowlton Bistro / Restaurant, such as Le Relais Restaurant Bistro,
286 Knowlton road, Knowlton Qc. J0E 1V0

Bookstore – How the Light Gets In – Chapter 4: The walls were lined with bookcases filled with hardcovers and paperbacks. With fiction and biography, science and science fiction. Mysteries and religion. Poetry and cookbooks. It was a room filled with thoughts and feeling and creation and desires… A black cast-iron woodstove sat in the center of the room, with a kettle simmering on top of it and an armchair on either side.

Inspiration destination: Brome Lake Books
30 Lakeside road, Knowlton Qc. J0E 1V0

Boulangerie – The Cruellest Month – Chapter 7: Ruth stood on the top step of the church, balancing a plate of thick maple cured ham sandwiches on Sarah’s bread still steaming from the boulangerie (bakery).

Inspiration destination: La Rumeur Affamee
15 Principale Nord, Sutton Qc. J0E 2K0

Church – Brutal Telling – Chapter 2: The Chief Inspector’s eyes drifted up du Moulin, and there, on the side of the hill leading out of the village, was the small white chapel St. Thomas’s Anglican.

Inspiration destination: Church of St. Aidan
132 chemin Mont Echo, Sutton Junction Qc. J0E 1K0

General store – Brutal Telling – Chapter 14: Paul Morin had never been in the store before and now he looked around. The dark wooden shelves were neatly stacked with tins. Sacks of dog food and birdseed leaned against the counter. Above the shelves were old boxes with Backgammon games. Checkers, Snakes and Ladders, Monopoly. Paint by numbers and jigsaw puzzles were stacked in neat, orderly rows. Dried goods were displayed along one wall, paint, boots, birdfeeders were down another.

Inspiration destination: J.L. Le Baron Ltee
105 Main street, North Hatley Qc. J0B 2C0

Hadley House – Dead Cold – Chapter 12: Armand Gamache stood at the door, Lemieux behind him, trying not to remember the last time he was there. Trying to see the Old Hadley House as just a building. And buildings, he told himself, were just everyday materials. There’s nothing special about this place. But still the house seemed to moan and shiver.

Inspiration destination: The Old Mansion House
71 chemin Channel, Georgeville Qc. J0B 1T0
www.mansionhousegeorgeville.com

Janes’s painting : Fair Day – Still Life – Chapter 1: “This work is called Fair Day”, read Elise from hers notes, “It’s being submitted by Jane Neal of Three Pines, a long-time supporter of Arts Williamsburg, but her first submission”. Elise looked around. “Comments?” “It’s wonderful”, Clara lied. The others looked at her in astonishment. Facing them on the easel was an unframed canvas and the subject was obvious. The horses looked like horses, the cows were cows, and the people were all recognizable, not only as people but as specific people from the village. But they were all stick figures.

Inspiration destination: Fair Day was realized for a made for T.V. movie Still Life which aired on CBC television September 2013. The painting Fair Day hangs in the Brome County Historical Society & Museum
130 Lakeside, Knowlton Qc. J0E 1V0

Manoir Bellechasse  - The Murder Stone – Prologue: For there was something unnatural about the Manoir Bellechasse from the very beginning. It was staggeringly beautiful, the stripped logs golden and glowing. It was made of weed and wattle and sat right at the water’s edge. It commanded Lac Massawippi, as the Robber Barons commanded everything. These captains of industry couldn’t seem to help it.

Inspiration destination: Hovey Manor
575 rue Hovey, North Hatley Qc. J0B 2C0

Mill – Still Life – Chapter 2: And old stone mill sat beside a pond, the mid-morning sun warming its fieldstones. Around it the maples and birches and wild cherry trees held their fragile leaves, like thousands of happy hands waving to them upon arrival.

Inspiration destination: The Old Mill
7 Caleb street, stanbridge East Qc. J0J 2H0
www.stanbridgeeast.ca