🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Saint Croix Island International Historic Site

(Explore the history and landscape of the United States with us as we approach the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution and American Independence. Get out your homeschool atlas and almanac and follow along!)

Maine is our homeschool state-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today with your students learning about one of Maine’s most important historic places: Saint Croix Island International Historic Site, which commemorates one of the first French settlements in North America.

“The winter of 1604–1605 on Saint Croix Island was a cruel one for Pierre Dugua’s French expedition. Iced in by freezing temperatures and cut off from fresh water and game, 35 of 79 men died. As spring arrived and native people traded game for bread, the health of those remaining improved. Although the expedition moved on by summer, the beginning of French presence in North America had begun.”

Located on the ancestral homelands of the Wabanaki, Saint Croix Island International Historic Site commemorates the first French attempt to colonize the territory they called l’Acadie. This site tells the story of one of the earliest European settlements in North America. In 1604, Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons, sailed from France across the Atlantic Ocean to North America to pursue his beaver pelt monopoly. 78 men, including cartographer Samuel Champlain, stayed with Dugua for the winter. The men found Saint Croix Island to be defensible against any other European attempts to take their claim. The French set to work immediately, building a number of dwellings and a storehouse, and fortifying the island with a single cannon facing down the river. Wheat was planted on the mainland, though they would find out that the island’s soil was far too sandy to grow crops. The Frenchmen met the Passamaquoddy who supplied the furs the French sought in exchange for hatchets, knives, glass beads, metal cookware, and other goods. For many Passamaquoddy, this was their first direct encounter with Europeans.

Unfortunately, as winter came about, the French would find that the climate was not similar to that of France. Having only salted pork and bread to eat, the Frenchmen lacked an intake of vitamin C and fell prey to scurvy. 35 out of the 79 men died of this disease, and were buried in a small unmarked cemetery on Saint Croix Island. In the following spring of 1605, the Passamaquoddy returned from their winter sojourn to the shores of Saint Croix Island. With their help, the health of the remaining French improved. Pierre Dugua made the decision to move their community to Port Royale, in today’s Nova Scotia. The valuable insights gained from that winter on Saint Croix Island formed the foundations of successful settlements by the French and solidified the presence of French people in North America. (nps.gov)

You can find a wealth of additional information about Saint Croix Island’s history, landscape, location(s), and visitor facilities on the website for Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site from the National Park Service, and also on the site’s page on Wikipedia.

Explore America’s National Parks, National Historical Parks, National Historic Sites, National Monuments, and more via Wikipedia and via the U.S. National Park Service’s website today.

What historical American treasures are you and your students exploring in your homeschool this Orion Term? 🇺🇸

❡ The great globe itself: This is one of our regular Homeschool Geography posts featuring important natural and historical sites in the United States. Print your own copy of our River Houses American Heritage Calendar and follow along with us, and add your name to our weekly mailing list to get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🌎

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❡ Books in the running brooks: You can always turn to your River Houses atlas and almanac for more information about any of our homeschool states-of-the-week. The almanac has detailed profiles of all the U.S. states and territories, and the endpapers of the atlas are indexes that will show you where all of the individual national and regional maps may be found. 📚

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