Marquette Mission Site - St. Ignace, Michigan

Community History

“The Jesuit mission, the French village, and the villages of the Huron and Ottawa are adjacent to one another, and together they border and fill up the head of the cove.” (Memoir of Cadillac)

Much of what we know about the early history of St. Ignace and the different groups that made up this community comes from Cadillac’s memoir and the writings of Jesuit priests published in the Jesuit Relations.

Cadillac on the French village

…“It is very important that you should know, in case you are not already informed, that this village is one of the largest in all Canada. There is a fine fort of Pickets, and sixty houses that from a street in a straight line. There is a garrison of well-disciplined, chosen soldiers, consisting of about two hundred men, the best formed and most athletic to be found in this New World; besides many other persons who are residents here during two or three months of the year… The houses are arranged along the shore of this great Lake Huron, and fish and smoked meat constitute the principal food of the inhabitants." (As quoted in Van Fleet 1874)

Cadillac on the Indian Villages

[The stockade] “is only an inclosure. Their cabins are built like arbors. They drive poles into the ground as thick as one’s leg and very long, and join them to one another by making them bend over at the top… Their cabins are weatherproof, and no rain gets into them; they are generally 100 to 130 feet long by 24 feet wide and 20 high. There is an elevated platform on each side, and each family has its little apartment. There is also a door at each end. Their streets are regular, like our villages."

WHAT IS AT THE SITE?

The archaeological site known as Marquette Mission is one piece of the larger community. Part of the work over the last thirty some years has been to determine which part of the community we are looking at. The Huron village is well represented at the site. The mission itself is believed to have been on a small portion of the site, but this remains open to some debate. There are hundreds of postmolds at the site and other structural remains as well. Undoubtedly some of the postmolds are from the longhouse structures described by Cadillac. Artifacts from the site include European artifacts and trade items along with Native American-made materials. Given the findings of our research, we now think that a portion of the French fort may also lie within the known area of the site. The Huron village and fort occupations within the site limits do not appear to have occurred at the same time and this observation is discussed under “Current Research.”

A recent historic layer covers portions of the site and is related to use of the land in the 1800s and 1900s.

WHO LIVED AT THIS SITE?

We know from historic records that a number of different Jesuit priests lived at the mission and that the Huron had a village next to the mission. The Ottawa also had a nearby village. French traders had been in the area since the 1640s and some took up residence close to the Native American villages. By 1683 there is a French military presence and Fort de Baude is established adjacent to the mission in 1689.

Sieur de la Mothe Cadillac, before founding Detroit, commanded Fort de Baude. In 1701 he took many of the troops and Huron to establish Fort Pontchartrain in what is now Detroit. Our recent research using historical documents and archaeology suggests that the community changed after Cadillac’s departure and the burning of the mission in 1705, but it did not come to an end.

Learn more about members of the community by clicking on the following links:

For more information about the french in New France click on the following link: