At the location where you are now stood a popular hotel, the Spring Valley Inn. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, tourism in Potton was not limited to the sulphur springs as a draw for visitors. The township also relied on numerous boarding houses and coaching inns like this one to welcome travellers and allow them to enjoy the charms of the region.
The Spring Valley Inn, also known as the Shaggy Dog Inn, was located a few hundred metres from Potton Springs, a site well known among tourists. The Italo-Canadian Frank Roncarelli, famous for having defended freedom of religion in Quebec in the 1940s, is said to have purchased this former farmhouse, built in the early 19th century, to serve as a refuge for Jehovah’s Witnesses. It was later, in the 1950s, that this residence became a hotel.
In South Bolton, on the border of Potton, stood another well-known inn: the McMannis Inn, also known as the South Bolton Inn or Hanson’s Hotel. Located at the intersection of Mountain Road and Route 243, it was a social hub for the local community in the early 20th century. From 1918 to 1958, the Heath family managed the establishment, with Merrill Heath playing a central role. The inn attracted travelers with its warm atmosphere and famous cuisine, while also serving as a gathering place for the community. Its name recalls local history: John McMannis, the first mayor of East Bolton, and his wife Sally Hanson. The building still exists today but is now a private residence.
Before the arrival of the railway, the transportation of passengers and goods in the Eastern Townships relied heavily on stagecoaches. As early as 1785, this mode of transport emerged in the United States and quickly spread to Quebec, with the first Quebec–Boston service established in 1811. These sturdy vehicles could carry up to 18 passengers and transport goods over long distances.
The stagecoach network also encouraged the development of service infrastructure: inns, stables, and wagon-making workshops. One of the busiest routes passed through Knowlton and South Bolton, the Bolton Pass, corresponding to the old Magog Road opened in 1794. It was along this road that Levi Knowlton and his son built an essential relay station in 1828, the Pine Lodge, which welcomed travelers waiting for the next coach or the ferry to cross Lake Memphremagog.
The Concord-type stagecoach, manufactured in Concord, New Hampshire, by Lewis Downing starting in 1813, became the vehicle of choice for these journeys. Strong and able to withstand harsh conditions, it could travel approximately 80 kilometers per day on dry roads.
With the rise of railways beginning around 1850, stagecoach transportation gradually declined. Nevertheless, the inns and relay stations of that era, such as those at Knowlton Landing or Dunkin, remain valuable witnesses to this now-vanished period. Today, the Concord stagecoach preserved at the Colby-Curtis Museum in Stanstead, along with historical photographs, recalls this flourishing era of tourism and transportation in the Eastern Townships.