Uncorking the Past: The Saga of the Beaconsfield Vineyard
Speaker: Mona Andrée Rainville
When: Thursday, February 19, 2026, 19:30 - 21:00
Where: Centennial Hall
288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield H9W 4A4
Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period
Beaconsfield owes its name to a bold experiment. In the late 19th century, a young Englishman, John Henry Menzies, followed the gentleman-farmer fashion of the day by turning a vast stretch of Pointe-Claire farmland into a vineyard he called the Beaconsfield Vineyard. The venture caused a stir at first, but the land soon proved better suited to leisure than to grapes. Meanwhile, part of the property was subdivided, and by 1880 the small community that emerged there was already calling itself Beaconsfield though it would not be officially incorporated until 1910. The story, however, overlooks a key figure. While Menzies is credited as the vineyard’s founder, the estate actually belonged to his wife, Mary Isabella Scott. She acquired it at the end of a rapid series of land flips and was the one who grasped its true potential. Rather than vines, she envisioned a haven of summer cottages. She had six built and, with remarkable foresight, secured perpetual access to the water for their owners. In doing so, she reshaped the property and set the tone for the community that would become Beaconsfield. This presentation revisits the Beaconsfield Vineyard Saga through the overlooked vision of Mary Isabella Scott.
Mona An
drée Rainville is a public historian, cultural mediator, genealogist, retired lawyer, and journalist. A law graduate of the Université de Montréal with earlier studies in journalism and physics, she brings her meticulous research and storytelling flair to uncovering the extraordinary lives of ordinary people. Recipient of the Percy W. Foy Award from the Société généalogique canadienne-française, she has collaborated with cultural and museum institutions across Canada, France, and the United States. Formerly on the boards of Éditions Histoire Québec and the Fédération Histoire Québec, she now heads the Société d’histoire de Lachine and leads the Facebook group Les 2000 Femmes de la Nouvelle-France.
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Ryan Young is a Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue City Councillor and a College Professor at JohnAbbott College who has done extensive research about the history of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue. Every year, he leads a number of historical walking tours in the old village of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue.
nned the next day by the Allies.
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