| Nantes | |
| Settlement Type: | Municipality |
| Pushpin Map: | Canada Southern Quebec |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in southern Quebec. |
| Coordinates: | 45.6333°N -73°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Type2: | Region |
| Subdivision Name2: | Estrie |
| Subdivision Type3: | RCM |
| Subdivision Name3: | Le Granit |
| Established Title1: | Constituted |
| Established Date1: | January 1, 1874 |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Daniel Gendron |
| Leader Title1: | Federal riding |
| Leader Name1: | Mégantic—L'Érable |
| Leader Title2: | Prov. riding |
| Leader Name2: | Mégantic |
| Area Total Km2: | 120.50 |
| Area Land Km2: | 119.16 |
| Population Total: | 1388 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Density Km2: | 11.6 |
| Population Blank1 Title: | Pop 2016-2021 |
| Population Blank1: | 0.8% |
| Population Blank2 Title: | Dwellings |
| Population Blank2: | 668 |
| Timezone: | EST |
| Utc Offset: | −5 |
| Timezone Dst: | EDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | −4 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code(s) |
| Postal Code: | G0Y 1G0 |
| Area Code: | 819 |
| Blank Name: | Highways |
| Blank Info: | |
Nantes (in French pronounced as /nɑ̃t/) is a municipality in Le Granit Regional County Municipality in the Estrie region of Quebec, Canada. It is situated between Stornoway and Lac-Mégantic, where the Canadian Pacific Railway used to cross. Its population in the Canada 2021 Census was 1,388.
Nantes used to be called Spring Hill. In 1856, Scottish settlers established their camps. It was called Drum-A-Vack in Gaelic. French-Canadian families took over the camps in 1905. A train station and a postal office were added to the community in 1879 and in 1898, two sawmills, two telegraph offices, and two general stores were added as well.
Nantes has the distinction of having the last electro-mechanical telephone exchange in the public network of North America, finally converting to digital in 2002.
On July 6, 2013, a Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway train engine was left unmanned and parked on the line. The engine caught fire and was extinguished by the Nantes Fire Department. In the process of extinguishing the fire, the fire department turned off the engine. As the engine had been turned off, the brake system began to lose pressure, eventually dropping to the point the brakes could no longer hold the train in place. The train rolled away from Nantes, towards Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, and derailed there, causing an explosion that destroyed around half of the downtown area and killed forty-seven people.