[5] Rigaud is located on the traditional territory of the Algonquins, who fled the region before the arrival of the French, due to violent attacks by the Iroquois.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the locality developed rapidly as an accommodation relay for loggers, and as a loading point for timber and cereals.

It extends along the Rigaud River back from Ottawa, and several hamlets are built for certain riparian areas of the lake, others as old industrial centers in the plains, or more recently, rural residential developments.

The western limit of the municipality constitutes the interprovincial border with the United Counties of Prescott and Russell, in Ontario.

[8] Rigaud remains a regional community, unlike neighboring cities to the east, which have been integrated into the Montreal Metropolitan Area.

The Rigaud mountain covers 47 square kilometres (18 sq mi), and is divided into three physiographic units: the escarpment to the north-west; the central plateau modulated by local peaks; and the lower slopes to the east and north.

This bottom moraine consists of pieces of rock that a glacier has torn from its bed, the bedrock of the Canadian Shield, chunks he shrunk and rounded as he rolled over them, carrying them and losing them in this bowl, a few thousand years ago, at the end of the Wisconsin Ice Age.

It is also home to 250 species of birds,[11] including the great woodpecker, the wild turkey, the ruffed grouse, as well as to owls.

A large number of aquatic and migratory birds also live in wetlands, particularly on the shores of the Brazeau and Rigaud bays, as well as at Pointe à la Raquette.

Rigaud Mountain, because of its slope and the poor quality of its soil, has kept its forest cover, although it has had extensive residential and recreational development.

The valley of the Rivière à la Raquette to the east is sparsely populated in the north due to the presence of swamps in the point; the land is used for various purposes including a sand pit, a transit service center, a campground and small horse farms.

Rigaud mountain, along the crest of Chemin Saint-George and at the top of Rue Bourget, offers a view of the Ottawa River and the Laurentians.

It is a wooded area, with hiking trails, a few isolated clusters of new country residences and old cabins, as well as recreational and tourism operations.

The mountain is also home to an unusual, natural rock garden known as the "champs de patates[20]", so named because of the local legend that it was once a potato field, turned to stone by God because the farmer worked on Sunday.

The middle to upper-middle class community features large, mostly secluded building lots in a wooded setting that draws residents because of its isolated tranquility and privacy.

As such, it was the hiding place for fugitive Charlie Wilson, one of the leaders of the notorious 1963 Great train robbery in England.