Memphrémagog

At the northern end of Lake Memphrémagog, its waters flow into the Magog River and onward to the Saint-François. Abenaki travellers camped here on a route between the Saint Lawrence and the Connecticut River, crossing the long lake and carrying their canoes between waterways. A fish weir stood at the lake's outlet, where the current later attracted settlers seeking a place to build mills.

In the 1790s Nicholas Austin built a sawmill and a flour mill at the outlet. Ralph Merry, who had fought in the American War of Independence, purchased the property in 1799 and settled there with his family. The growing hamlet was known simply as the Outlet. As the surrounding lands were opened to settlement, the movement of Abenaki hunters and gatherers through their homeland became more restricted.