The Sarrasin’s are among the founding pioneers of Duhamel-Ouest. The barns have thus seen several generations of Sarrasin farmers come and go. The story begins with Romulus Sarrasin and his wife Exérile Lefort, who left Saint-Cyrille-de-Wendover to settle on their newly acquired land in Duhamel-Ouest, which they purchased for 30 dollars. They start their family of four children and toil on the land. Donat, born of this union, takes a liking for this rural life and buys the land from his father in 1937, one year after marrying Jeanne d’Arc Plante.

A second generation of Sarrasin’s will live off this rich land, as seven more children will be born there. History repeats itself and Donat’s youngest son, Réjean, buys the land from his father in 1965 to start yet another generation of the family with his wife Carmen Garceau.

Eight years later, the land, which was initially used for dairy farming, will be turned into a cattle farm given that Réjean is the manager of the Coopérative de Ville-Marie and that he must divide his time between his two jobs (taken from Duhamel-Ouest’s centennial book, 2011).

Mr. Sarrasin’s barns are divided into four sections. The first barn was erected in the 1920s, and the second barn was built along with the south-facing part where the milk house is set up in the 1940s. It is at this time that the barns are moved to follow a north-south orientation rather than east-west. Finally, an extension was built in 1968, three years after Réjean purchased the farm, to install a barn cleaner chain.

* These heritage items are private property; please admire them from public roads.