A Place Of Pilgrimage
Many centuries before Samuel de Champlain's July 1609 landfall, Isle La Mottte had been a meeting place for the lake's neighboring native peoples. The Wonbanakiak on the eastern shore called the land Bitawbagw, or "the waters between," while the Iroquois (Mohawk) of the western shore knew it as Caniaderiguarunte, the "gateway to the country."
In 1666, French captain Pierre de Saint Paul, Sieur de la Motte, was detailed with 300 men to construct a fort on this site, for defense against the English and Iroquois. Upon completion, the fort was blessed and dedicated to Saint Anne. In their wake, the soil here has been trod by many a landing party, but few have stayed very long. Generations of pilgrims have left only a handful of relics in the earth, but they have filled the air with prayer and memories.
"I remember." "Je me souviens." "Nemikwaldamnana." The landing is a shrine to memory, whose "remains" live deep within each of us. Landings are always a meeting ground of the known and the unknown. Standing here at this landing, poised for the 400th anniversary of Champlain's pilgrimage, what new acts of remembering will we perform.
Marker is on West Shore Road.
Courtesy hmdb.org
