Meductic Indian Village / Fort Meductic
| Fort Meductic | |
|---|---|
| near the confluence of the Eel River and Saint John River, in New Brunswick, | |
 Meductic Church Cornerstone (1717). Oldest religious artifact in New Brunswick. Discovered 1890.[1] | |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by | Maliseet |
| Site history | |
| Built | before the 17th century, first Fort in Acadia |
| Battles/wars | Battle of Fort Loyal |
| Official name | Meductic Indian Village / Fort Meductic National Historic Site of Canada |
| Designated | 1924 |
Meductic Indian Village / Fort Meductic (also known as Medoctec, Madawamkeetook) was the Maliseet capital until and mid-eighteenth century and was located near the confluence of the Eel River and Saint John River, in New Brunswick, four miles upriver from present-day Meductic, New Brunswick.[2] The fortified village of Meductic was the principal settlement of the Maliseet First Nation from before the 17th century until the middle of the 18th, and an important fur trading centre. (The other two significant native villages in the region were Norridgewock (present-day Madison, Maine) on the Kennebec River and Penobscot (present-day Indian Island, Maine) on the Penobscot River. Only during King George's War, after the French established Saint Anne (present-day Fredericton, New Brunswick), did village Aukpaque, present-day Springhill, New Brunswick, become of equal importance to Meductic)[3]
The village contained Fort Meductic, which was built before the arrival of the French to defend against Mohawk attacks.[4] It is reported to have been the first Fort in Acadia.[5] During the lead up to Father Rale's War, to secure the French influence on the village, Priest Jean-Baptiste Loyard[6] built the chapel Saint Jean Baptiste (1717). (The bell was given by King Louis XV.) [7] The French claimed the same territory on the Kennebec River by building a church in the Abenaki villages of Norridgewock.[8][9]
It is a National Historic Site of Canada. A Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada plaque and cairn marking the site is located nearby on Fort Meductic Road. Official recognition refers to the polygon around the archaeological remains.[10]
Footnotes
- ^ Latin inscription: "To God, most excellent, most high, in honor of Saint John Baptist, the Maliseets erected this church A. D. 1717, while Jean Loyard, a priest of the Society of Jesus, was procurator of the mission.” (See Raymond, P.9)
- ^ The site, dating from before the 17th century, was originally situated on a plateau west of the Saint John River; but in 1968 the Mactaquac Hydroelectric Dam was built, flooding much of the Saint John River valley, including the entire site of Meductic.
- ^ Raymond, p. 3, p. 11, p. 16
- ^ Raymond, p. 7
- ^ Raymond, p. 11; Bishop Jean-Baptiste de La Croix de Chevrières de Saint-Vallier visited the area on the way to Port Royal, Nova Scotia. He wrote: "Megogtek is the first fort in Acadia".
- ^ Binasco, Matteo. The Role and Activities of the Capuchin, Jesuit and Recollet Missionaries in Acadia/Nova Scotia from 1654 to 1755. Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, NS. 2004. Father Loyard was born at Pau in 1678 (dept. of Pyrénées-Atlantique). He was ordained a Jesuit priest (Societe of Jesus) and served in Acadia from 1709 until his death 1731.
- ^ Raymond, p. 13
- ^ "Meductic Indian Village / Fort Meductic National Historic Site of Canada". Parks Canada. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
- ^ John Grenier, The Far Reaches of Empire. University of Oklahoma Press, 2008, p. 51, p. 54.
- ^ Meductic Indian Village / Fort Meductic. Canadian Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
References
Secondary Sources:
- W.O. Raymond. The old Meductic Fort and the Indian chapel of Saint Jean Baptiste: paper read before the New Brunswick Historical Society (1897)
- Raymond, William O (1905). Glimpses of the Past: History of the River St. John. Saint John, NB: unspecified. OCLC 422037263.
- John Grenier. (2008). The Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia 1710-1760. University of Oklahoma Press.
- Parkman - the Jesuits in North America
- Jean-Baptiste Loyard - Canadian Biography Online
- Matteo Binasco. "Few, Uncooperative, and Endangered: The Troubled Activity of the Roman Catholic missionaries in Acadia (1610-1710)", in Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society, Journal, vol.10 (2007), pp. 147–162.
External Links
Also see
National Historic Sites of Canada by location | |
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