“Prices include taxes and mosquitoes,” said Pascal Perron, the
director of the Tsiionhiakwatha/Droulers Archaeological Site in
the Châteauguay Valley near Huntingdon. “And you can learn how
to make fire.” Well, who could resist that offer? Packing a
sleeping bag and bug spray, I headed off in search of a
600-year-old Iroquois cultural experience. The
Tsiionhiakwatha/Droulers site is a fun educational getaway where
people – mostly families and youth groups – spend the night in a
replica of a First Nations longhouse. It’s a fascinating, rustic
trip with hands-on workshops and down-home meals, all built
around Iroquois lore and lifestyle. “If people want an authentic
Iroquois experience they come here,” said Perron. “If they want
a hotel, they go to our colleagues who run the Hôtel des
Premières Nations outside of Quebec City. But we’re more ‘real.’
” OK, let’s get real. Guests coming for the Longhouse Sleepover
are assigned one “room” for a small family or a couple – a room
being an open sleeping space on a woo