page_title: Wakefield, Quebec
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Wakefield, Quebec / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Covered bridge.
context_page_description: Wakefield is one of many villages of the Municipality La Pêche, with the village centre on the western shore of the Gatineau River, at the confluence of the La Pêche River in the Outaouais region of the province of Quebec in Canada. It is thirty-five kilometres northwest of Ottawa, Ontario. The village, named after the city of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, is now the southern edge of the municipality of La Pêche, and was founded in 1830 by Irish, Scottish, and English immigrants. Wakefield is approximately a twenty-five-minute drive north of the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge that divides Gatineau and Ottawa, along the Autoroute 5, a modern four lane divided highway which has recently been extended to the village. Wakefield is unique as a primarily Anglophone town in a primarily Francophone province.
context_section_description: The village's primary industry is tourism.
  The main attractions:
  The Gendron covered bridge spanning the Gatineau River
  The Wakefield Mill Hotel and Spa: The Maclaren Mill built in 1838 and named after an early family in the region, now restored and operated as the Wakefield Mill Hotel and Spa
  Two ski hills: Vorlage and Sommet Edelweiss
  Canada's highest bungee jump at Great Canadian Bungee in nearby Chelsea
  The Black Sheep Inn - Auberge Mouton Noir. - a legendary live music venue.
  Eco-Odyssee - a navigable water maze
  The village provides access points to Gatineau Park near the junction of Route Principale and the Highway 5, and also at the Wakefield Mill.  During the summer months until 2011, a touristic steam train ran daily from Gatineau to Wakefield via Chelsea along the Gatineau River.
  Recreational activities in and around the village include horseback riding, skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, tubing, snowmobiling, dog sledding, golf, canoeing, and kayaking. There is a popular unsupervised and unofficial swimming area beneath the covered bridge that attracts thousands of people from the surrounding area every summer.
  The Wakefield community  has a thriving arts scene that attracts aficionados seeking an eclectic experience.
  Grey Owl was partially filmed here in 1999.
  Since 2011 the village has hosted the Wakefield Covered Bridge Run. The Marathon of Health along with the Wakefield community created the running event to raise money for organizations that promote healthy and active lifestyles through sports.
  The village has developed a reputation for a somewhat bohemian lifestyle and boasts a number of small cafes, pubs, and galleries. Many young families live in the area, enjoying its lifestyle, services, and resources. Many artists live in the surrounding mountains and valleys.
  Public buildings include the Wakefield Memorial Hospital, an elementary school, the MRC des Collines Police Station, the Daycare Center Éveil de la nature, the Wakefield Retirement Home, and a municipal library. A weekly regional newspaper, The Low Down to Hull and Back News (a play on the Gatineau River communities from Low downstream to Hull), is also published in the village.
  Former Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson is buried in Maclaren Cemetery in Wakefield.
caption: Covered bridge
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2006:09:05 09:40:49", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9716", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8098", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/160", "EXIF FNumber": "9", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Landscape Mode", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:09:05 09:40:49", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:09:05 09:40:49", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "239925/32768", "EXIF ApertureValue": "1623/256", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "17", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3456", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2304", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "9230", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1728000/437", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "384000/97", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}