The Charlevoix Public Library invited a bevy of local author’s to its “first annual” local author’s fair. The fair was Tuesday, August 12th, from 4:30 to 6:30 pm. I’ve never been in a bevy before, so was delighted to attend.
Must confess that I didn’t do a lot, nor did anyone else in the bevy. It was more a meet and greet with library patrons. The library did put on a nice display featuring all of us local authors.
Has anyone ever heard of Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix before?
He’s not exactly a household name. He was a French priest, a university profess, an explorer and – quite possibly – a spy. He has two towns named after him – one in Quebec and one in Michigan.
Pierre started his Jesuit training in France, did some more in Quebec, and finished it all back in France. He then taught at a Jesuit university in France before returning to Quebec. In 1719, the French government had him determine the boundaries of Acadia – what is now Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edwards Island and parts of Maine.
A year later, Pierre was sent west – to find the water route from Acadia to the Pacific Ocean. He never found it, but he and his group (in two canoes) did travel the St. Lawrence River into the Great Lakes. He made it as far west as Green Bay before he gave up and returned east. How he got there by canoe, I will never know. On the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, he ran into a storm and spent the night at, as he described in his journal, “a little island that has no Name”. The island is now called Fisherman’s Island and is not far from the town of Charlevoix, Michigan.
The spy part comes from his other mission in this journey. He mapped the region, with special care to note English-speaking settlements and British fortresses.
When Michigan got around to naming northern Michigan counties, one of them was named Keshkauko after an Ojibwe chief. The legislature later changed the names of many counties with Native American names, and someone must have known that Pierre spent the night in one of them. And so Keshkauko was changed to Charlevoix. A small settlement in the county then known as Pine River changed its name in 1869 to Charlevoix.
For those of you not from around here, Charlevoix is pronounced SHAR-lah-voy. I once bought an item of clothing in town at half price, since it misspelled the town in bold letters – Charleviox.
Lake Charlevoix, one of the most beautiful lakes on the planet, was known as Pine Lake and Long Lake until the name was officially changed to Lake Charlevoix in 1926. Lake Charlevoix is a far better name, and, besides, there are several Pine Lakes and Long Lakes in Michigan anyway.