Gravelbourg: a prairie cathedral town
Gravelbourg is quite unusual for a Saskatchewan town. Originally a French settlement founded in 1906, it boast a cathedral, a bishop’s residence and a few Victorian buildings (neo-classical, mostly) that now house a college, an elementary school and a library, respectively. Many buildings of the era are still standing.
All the paintings within the cathedral interior were done by one man, Father Maillet. However, the stained glass windows are recent, a gift from France in the 70s, since the originals were painted glass and not as nice.
The cathedral tour reveals some humourous anecdotes. Originally, the cathedral was entirely francophone, so much of the writing is in French. For instance, Father Maillet painted the names of the seven deadly sins along the walls. One day, someone decided that wasn’t right, because English people sin too. So he added the English, before getting caught.
Midnight mass at the Cathedral is in both French and English, which makes the service run for two to three hours. However, everyone attends it. The cathedral used to be named after Ste-Philomène, but she was discovered not to be a real saint, so they changed it to Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption(our lady of the Assumption). It’s called a co-cathedral because Gravelbourg no longer has its own bishop and has to share him with Regina.
In addition to the cathedral tour, there's a small, friendly museum in town, with information in both English and French.Available accommodations are modest but adequate. The Gravelbourg Inn has rooms starting at $55 Cdn.
To get back to the Trans-Canada, Highway 43 from Gravelbourg to Highway 4 is one of the worst-kept stretches of road in Canada. Patches of new and lumpy, badly laid asphalt dot the road all the way down. Some stretches are unpaved, or barely, very rough to drive on. Prairie dogs skitter constantly back and forth in front of cars.
Highway 4 is the turnoff for Swift Current and the Trans-Canada highway. This is the location of Neville. However, the pump and gas store there are closed. Neville General Store is for sale. There is still a restaurant, though, where travellers can have a coffee and perhaps a bit of food. The next operation gas station is in Swift Current.photos
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