La grange à dîme / The Tithe Barn

The Sainte-Flavie tithe barn, also known in common nineteenth-century language as a grain shed, was likely built around 1857. A tithe was an in-kind tax paid by parishioners to the church so that priests would not have to work the land, and farmers gave part of their harvest for this purpose. The barn stored the grain and potatoes received through this system, which continued in Sainte-Flavie until the 1940s. Afterward, the building served as a garage and warehouse. Architecturally, it is a modest structure built entirely of wood, with outer walls that were once covered in rabbet planks and an interior framed by large squared wooden beams. Because most tithe barns in Quebec have disappeared through demolition or fire, this rare building has been preserved and carefully restored, and it is intended to house a tithing interpretation center and a museum of paleontology.

Quebec · Canada