Sherbrooke

Sherbrooke bills itself as the Reine des Cantons de l'Est (Queen of the Eastern Townships), and with a population of more than 150,000, it's far and away the region's largest and most important city. The Loyalists who founded the city in the 1790s and named it for Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, one of Canada's pre-Confederation governor-generals, used the power of the Rivière St-François to build a strong industrial base. Though the city's economic importance has waned, it still has significant manufacturing and textile plants. On the corner of rues Dufferin and Frontenac is a realistic mural illustrating storefronts and businesses from Sherbrooke's past.