This lovely area

After the initial excitement of discovering the New World had faded, the West Indies was the place to explore, to gain fame and fortune. Warm blue seas, lush green islands and a bounty of resources spilling out onto golden beaches. It is where royals sponsored expedtions—where pirates and privateers toiled and plundered.

The northern bit of the New World was something to be got around. Lives were devoted and lost to discovering a northwest passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. But, in time, explorers began to venture farther north, mostly in pursuit animal pelts with which to shield Europeans from the harshness of winters.

Samuel de Champlain was intrigued about what lay inland of this rugged and treacherous world. By then more than century had passed since Columbus had crossed the Atlantic. Before Champlain was even born, Jacques Cartier had landed in Strathcona, now Quebec City and the Lachine Rapids near Montreal. But it was the lure of the fur trade that drew intrepid explorers like Champlain deeper into the untamed world—peopled only by indigenous tribes.

Champlain adopted the fairly common strategy of taking sides in the simmering turf wars to gain favour and access to vast untapped resources that he believed lay inland. He befriended the Huron Indians and formed alliances with the Algonquin and other tribes against the Iroquois. The Iroquois controlled the land around Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River and were pushing north. In 1609, Champlain, with resources from France, pummelled the Iroquois into submission near Fort Ticonderoga in the Green Mountains of Vermont.

By 1615, tensions between the Huron and the Iroquois were near the boiling point again. Near modern day Laval, Champlain was greeted by large group of Aboriginal people. They wanted his help to push back the Iroquois from LakeOntario. So Champlain ventured up the Ottawa River, across the MattawaRiver and LakeNippissing to Georgian Bay, escorted by his Huron and Algonquin allies—charting new territory along the way.

He settled for a few weeks near modern day Penetanaguishine. In August he met with native leaders to plot their attack on the Iroquois. In September, Champlain and his expditionary force headed south by way of the Trent Severn waterway— entering into LakeOntario at Trenton.Heading east through the Bay Quinte, Champlain rounded PrinceEdwardCounty headed for the mouth of the OneidaRiver, near modern day Oswego.

Historians believe Champlain was describing PrinceEdwardCounty when he wrote, “All this lovely area was uninhabited, for its Indian population had abandoned it for fear of Iroquois raiders.”

About 90 kilometres down the Oneida, Champlain and his party, at last encountered the fortified Iroquois settlement at Nichols’ Pond, east of modern day Syracuse.

From the Ontario Heritage Trust: ‘Faced with this challenging obstruction, Champlain and his allies built a “cavalier,” or wooden platform, from which they could fire into the fort. They also attempted to set fire to its exterior walls, but their efforts failed. It soon became evident that the fort could not be penetrated. Two key Huron chiefs were wounded in the fighting.’

Champlain took an arrow in the leg. Fellow adventurer Étienne Brûlé was on on his way with support from the Susquehannocks, but by the time they arrived, Champlain and his Huron army had evacuated the area.

Wounded, Champlain wished to return to Quebec, but instead was taken back to Huronia where he spent the winter.

Next year marks the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s foray around the County on his way to take on the Iroquois. Next year also marks 200 years since Sir John A. MacDonald birth.

These are two significant figures in the history of this community. But it seems these two milestones may slip by largely unnoticed.

For many in this community, history, tradition and heritage are core values of life in Prince Edward County—yet we struggle at times to know what to do with it. Folks such as Peter Lockyer and David Warrick and others work diligently to promote our unique story and make connections to our daily lives. Peter’s short documentary series History Lives Here has served an important public service in bringing these stories to life. David’s crusade to ensure Main Street in Picton is graced with a lasting tribute to MacDonald’s early years in this community has been dogged.

It has not been an easy road. History has been a tough sell.

A week from Friday (July 11), Warrick’s MacDonald project is staging a reenactment of the Lazier murder trial—presented in the very Picton courthouse in which Joseph Thomset and George Lowder were found guilty of the crime and later hanged. The proceedings will be presided over by Justice Robert J. Sharpe author of The Lazier Murder Trial, Prince Edward County 1884.

Shire Hall has been mostly silent on matters of history and heritage. It funds the County’s museums— through expensive renovations and repairs. But at times it appears to do so grudgingly, angling it seems, to see a couple either closed or taken over by the community organizations that care and raise funds to keep them open.

Our conversation about history—about the County’s story has been uneven and disjointed. There is no fault to be found—we are focused on raising our families, ekeing out a living or enjoying unstressed retirement years.

Yet we lose something very important when we forget our stories, our heritage and tradition.

Over the next few months we will begin turning our minds to electing a new municipal council. There will be a variety of pitches made: better roads, lower taxes and tireless defense of our community hospital.

Perhaps it is time for a different pitch, a different story. History is important, not just to understand who we are and where we come from, but also as a part of our attractiveness to visitors and investors. There is line that can be drawn between Samuel de Champlain and the economic prospects of this community.

Sir John A. MacDonald is a treasured asset whose presence on Main Street in Picton will drive opportunity.

Perhaps Champlain and MacDonald can help us fix our roads.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca