Hudson is an off-island suburb of Montreal, with a population of 5,135 (2011 Census). It is located on the south-west bank of the lower Ottawa River, in Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality. Situated about west of downtown Montreal, many residents commute to work on the Island of Montreal. Hudson is a municipality within Greater Montreal. An informal rural agglomeration since the early part of the 19th century, the Town of Hudson was formally created in June 1969 by merging the villages of Hudson, Hudson Heights and Como. A relatively wealthy town, Hudson is known for its large, turn-of-the century houses, many of which border the Lake of Two Mountains. A ferry from Hudson takes cars across the lake (a widening of the Ottawa River) to the village of Oka. Hudson has been compared to culturally and demographically similar Quebec towns such as the Eastern Townships villages of North Hatley and Brome Lake as well as nearby Senneville. All four municipalities border a body of water (used extensively for recreation year-round) and include a blend of French and English residents. Geography Hudson is near the edge of suburban Montreal to the east, but also surrounded by substantial farming and forest areas to the west. Large lot sizes, enforced by town bylaws, contribute to the relatively large number of trees in the residential areas. Zoning, infrastructure and building development are occasionally controversial subjects, such as when town residents voted against permitting Gheorghe Zamfir to build a concert hall near the edge of town in the 1980s. In 2001, the town won a victory in Canada's Supreme Court, upholding its by-law 207, which bans pesticide use on public and private property for cosmetic (purely aesthetic) purposes. The municipal territory of Hudson is delimited as follows: with the limit of Saint-Placide; with the limit of Oka; with the limit of Vaudreuil-Dorion; with the limit of Rigaud. Thus, the northern limit of Hudson stretches over in the middle of Lac-des-Deux-Montagnes, i.e. between Pointe Graham (west side) facing Saint-Placide and Pointe Cavagnal (side East) facing Oka. This shoreline strip of land is of a width varying between (to the east) up to a maximum of to the west. Physical environment The bedrock under Hudson is Cambrian Period sandstone. This is overlain by marine clay or stony sandy loam glacial till. On the surface are sands which were deposited by air or water. Most of Hudson is built