'Missisquoi County' is an historical county in
Quebec. In the early
1990s Quebec abolished its counties. Much of Missisquoi County became the
Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality except the southwestern part was transferred to
Le Haut-Richelieu Regional County Municipality.
The name of the county is derived from an Algonquin Abenaki word meaning "lots of waterfowl".
Missisquoi County, part of the
Eastern Townships (one of roughly 12 regions in Québec), is located on the western fringes of the Appalachian foothills, giving it a rolling landscape on its eastern part. The western part of the county is situated on the Richelieu River plains.
Missisquoi County is bound entirely on the south for 51 km by the Canadian-American border (45° N) from 72°40.5' W to the middle of the
Richelieu River (73°20.8' W), to the east by
Brome County for 23 km along the meridian defined by 72°40.5' W, to the northeast by Brome County and the northwest by
Rouville County, and to the west by
Iberville County and the Richelieu River (
Saint-Jean County is on the other side of the river). The northernmost point of the county is at 45°21' N and 73° W and is also the junction of the borders of Missisquoi County, Rouville County and Iberville County. The westernmost point of the county is on the Richelieu River on at the Canadian-American border at 45° N and 73°20' W.
The county is divided onto 4 townships, and there are 2 discontinuous zones along its western fringes without any township designation divided under the pre-1760 French parochial framework. The 4 townships are the
Township of Farnham in the north,
Township of Dunham in the east and
Township of Stanbridge to the west, and
Township of Saint Armand along the Canadian-American border. The county seat is the Town of
Bedford located at 45°7' N and 72°59' W in the southwestern part of the Township of Stanbridge. Other major towns in the county are
Farnham in the township of the same name and
Cowansville in the northeastern corner of Dunham Township.
A prominent feature of the county is Lake Champlain that juts into its western part and that separates Saint Armand Township from the western part of the county that divided according to the pre-1760 parochial framework.