Grosse Ile Quarantine Station

An island in the St. Lawrence River near Quebec City that served as Canada’s immigration quarantine station from 1832 to 1937. In 1847 alone, during the typhus epidemic carried on famine-era ships from Ireland, thousands of Irish emigrants died there; the island holds the largest Irish famine grave site outside Ireland. It is now Grosse Ile and the Irish Memorial National Historic Site, administered by Parks Canada.