Toponymie | Canton de Potton | Place Names

It always seemed curious to me that the namesake of a large city in the Crimea on the Black Sea, taken after a long siege by Franco-British forces in 1855, would be found 3 kilometers to the west of Lake Memphremagog, in our Township.  Sebastopol is an undefined area in Potton, located behind Sugar Loaf Mountain between two rocky elevations, which at their highest, measure nearly 660 meters.  With some imagination, one might conjure a vague parallel in the topography of the Sebastopol of overseas and the one in Quebec “towering” over Lake Memphremagog, but it is a stretch!  

The area called Sebastopol in Potton, often locally pronounced as Sevastopool, was designated as an inhabited area in 1855, and then somehow lost that designation around the middle of the 20^th century.  No one could seem to recall anything about Sebastopol, beyond the fact that is was in the vague area of what is reached by Chemin des Faucons-Pelèrins.  Interestingly, Sebastopol was again officially recognized as a locality in 1983, according to the Commission de toponymie du Québec, although it was erroneously attributed to the Municipality of Austin!  Seasonal residences are found in the area.

When inquiries were made of the older generation, answers about what or where Sebastopol was, were vague.  Its general location was known, but no one seemed to know or remember why the place bore such an incongruous name!  Hikers, over the years, had seen vestiges of old foundations, so a home or farm must have existed there at one time.  Various theories were forwarded, but none bore historical proof.

A single reference found in a book published in 1866 provided a tantalizing clue.  The following is part of the description of the landmarks seen from the Lady of the Lake as she steamed from Newport to Magog: “ (…) You are now past Mt. Elephantis, or Sugar Loaf (…).  As you proceed north, you will observe that this mountain is in the shape of a horseshoe.  Within the curve is some excellent farming land, situated upon an elevated plane above the Lake.  Captain Fogg has given this locality the name of “Sebastopol” from its impregnable position. »^[1]

Later, a map prepared by O.W. Grey, in 1864, confirmed Capt. G.H. Fogg as proprietor of the very area he had named, and the persistent mystery was solved!

The time frame of Fogg's ownership here seems to coincide with that of the Crimean War, which was 1853-1856.  The designation of his farm and that of the surrounding area as “Sebastopol” seems now an apt description.  Fogg himself may have served in the Crimean War, although we have no proof of that. 

In spite of the fact that Sebastopol is rarely, if ever, named on current maps, it does appear on GPS devices, curiously enough! And it is an officially named hamlet in Potton.