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The Grosse Ile was called "Graveyard Island" by many Canadians. It became so named because the bodies of over 11,000 individuals have been buried on the island which is approximately one mile long and half a mile wide. History records the horrors of the cholera epidemic in the years 1832 and 1834 and again typhus plague in 1847. Grosse Ile was the burial spot of most victims.

History records that in 1882, the Imperial Government obtained the island from monsieur Bernier of Chateau Richer for the purpose of erecting a quarantine station to replace the one at Point Levy, which was considered too close to the important centers. The island is situated between l'ile Ste-Marguerite, 32 miles east of Quebec City and opposite the south shore city of Montmagny.

The erection of a wireless station on this island was to establish a link in the chain of stations from the Great Lakes to Belle-Isle and Cape Race, to provide adequate communication facilities with the mainland. The then existing cable from Crane Island (Ile aux Grues), linking all the islands up the river to Quebec City, invariably was broken by the ice every spring.

For a number of years, Grosse Ile was well known as a sporting resort for both fishing and hunting with the later being most popular. The station "VCD" on Grosse Ile became redundant and was closed down permanently in 1927 when the Canadian Government transferred the Quarantine station to Quebec City.

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