Photo credit: Gilles Douaire
4,000 YEARS OF HISTORY ON ONE SMALL ISLAND
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The occupation of this precious island, located at the confluence of the rivière du Loup (Châteauguay) and lac Saint-Louis, probably goes back 4,000 years. Ideally suited for fishing, farming, and to some degree hunting, it attracted the Huron-Wendat and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) at different times, to varying degrees. With the arrival of European settlers, the area was divided, like much of New France, into seigneuries. The first seigneur was Charles Lemoyne of Longueuil (1673) and the last was Marguerite d’Youville (1765), founder of the Sœurs Grises de Montréal (Grey Nuns).
For 200 years, the nuns assured the territory’s natural preservation through their creed: “Protéger la vie sous toutes ses formes.” During their tenure, they planted an orchard, established a dairy, and raised wheat, buckwheat, oats, barley, and vegetables, while the surrounding wilderness remained largely untouched. This careful management, continued in recent years by partners such as the City of Châteauguay, Ducks Unlimited, Héritage Saint-Bernard, and the provincial government, has successfully protected the wildlife sanctuary.
The island includes an exceptional array of ecosystems (swamps, bogs, meadows, sugar-maple hickory groves, and white oak stands) that sustain a multitude of fauna and 226 species of birds, as well as many rare plants and flowers. The five miles of trails are ideal for hiking, photography, and bird watching. Educational outings and workshops are offered to school-age children and every summer over 7,500 visitors gather for the Ecomarché in August, which showcases the products of 60 or more artisans and farmers.
Many of the oldest edifices still survive on the property, although others were destroyed in fires and floods. The existing windmill was constructed in 1686, but its poor location exposed it to strong winds and limited its use. Nevertheless, it has endured. In 1865, fearing its complete destruction, the Sisters covered the roof in tin, and erected a statue of Saint Joseph on the dome. Years later, this statue was blown off in a hurricane and replaced with another ordered from the maison Raff in Paris.
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Well into the 19th century, conflict characterized the possession of the island. The Iroquois did not accept the French order to pay dues on the land or remain in their concessions, and there were frequent invasions by warring factions caught up in the territorial battles that occurred with the English and Americans during this period.
Far from being exempt from these troubles, the Grey Nun community was violently drawn into them. They frequently provided refuge to the peasants who had settled around them, and often had to abandon their homes to either hide in the woods with other women and children or distance themselves via canoes along the waterways.
HAUDENOSAUNEE LEGACY:
"JIGONSASEH AND THE PEACEMAKER"
Speaker: Norma General, Cayuga Faith Keeper -
Sour Springs Longhouse at Oshweken, Ontario, Canada, guest of: Indigenous Women's Initiatives (IWI) on the Crossroads Radio Show WJYE 96.1 and WBUF 92.9 FM. Recorded on June 29, 2008.
By 1896, over 250 members of the religious community had been buried in the crypt of the Motherhouse, and it was full. The bodies of nuns who died in the winter were kept inside the windmill until the ground thawed. Finally, a small plot of land was consecrated to be a cemetery. It is in an idyllic rose garden on the hillside that dominates the island. Even at that, limited space required that the graves contain at least two bodies, attested to by the names on the white marble tombstones.
Some mystery is associated with this same hill on the west side of the island. It is oval-shaped and has a steep slope, rising about 100 feet above the water level of the lake. Historians once suggested that the hill might be more than the work of a former ice age. That humans could have contributed to its formation is supported by its ressemblence to similar, albeit more diminutive, mounds which have served as burial grounds. The idea that the hillock could have been the work of a lost people was borne out during an excavation in 1854 that recovered 18 skulls within approximately 18 square feet, along with many other bones and weapons.  |
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Iroquois Book of Rites : Horatio Hale 1883
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Clues
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