Cultural resources surveyed at St. Croix International HS
Resource managers from Acadia National Park, the Resource Information Services Division, and the Submerged Resources Center recently conducted a survey of Saint Croix Island International Historic Site as part of a project to assess the extent of cultural resources within the park and possible impacts to these resources from a facility planned nearby.
Saint Croix Island International Historic Site is a monument for the United States and Canada that recognizes one of the first European settlements in North America. A group of French colonists, including Pierre Dougua, Sieur de Mons and Samuel Champlain, along with 77 other men, established a settlement on the island in 1604, preceding the Jamestown (1607) and Plymouth (1620) settlements. The settlement on Saint Croix was the first attempt by the French at a year-round colony in the Acadia area.
Upon their arrival, the French cleared the island, planted crops, dug a well, built houses, public buildings, fortifications, and gun emplacements. On the mainland across from the island in the area of a cove now managed by the park, the French cleared land and planted gardens. They also operated a water-powered mill and made charcoal on the mainland. Champlain created several maps documenting the island and settlement.
The French suffered a difficult winter on the island with bitter cold, deep snow, and a scarcity of fresh food, water and firewood – 35 or 36 men died and were buried on the southern portion of the island. After the harsh winter, the French abandoned the settlement for a more favorable location in present day Nova Scotia. The year spent on the island, however, provided a valuable lesson about the local environment and interacting with the indigenous people of the area, with whom the French had an amicable relationship.
Nineteenth and twentieth century uses of the island included farming, fishing, quarrying, smuggling during wartime, and possibly even a public house of low repute. In 1856, the US government purchased the northern portion of the island and built a lighthouse, which was occupied and operated until 1957. The remaining buildings on the island burned in 1976.
Various excavations occurred on the island throughout history, including an excavation of the French settlement which was undertaken in 1797 to resolve the international boundary dispute between the independent United States and the British colonies of Canada. From prior surveys and excavations, park managers have a number of maps of the island containing survey monuments and markers, historic sites, and excavated features including foundations, walls, fireplaces and chimneys. These maps provide useful snapshots of the island’s history from settlement to the present, but additional data was required to translate the mapped features to modern day coordinates. High accuracy geodetic GPS captured coordinates which will allow resource managers to rectify all previous maps and correlate them with each other, creating a single map showing the overlay of all previously generated maps of the island.
This information will be used to assess impacts to the island and cultural resources on the island from naturally occurring erosion, climate change, and any additional erosion that may be caused by the proposed facility upriver from the park. The geodetic survey will also be used as a foundation for future surveying and documentation of submerged resources associated with the island and mainland tracts of the International Historic Site. The next phase of the project will involve side scan sonar surveys surrounding the island and diver inspections of any cultural resources. The control points geodetically surveyed during this field work will provide data to allow park managers to use elevation to determine if resources found in the intertidal zone are within the jurisdiction and protection of the NPS.
Saint Croix Island is entirely within the boundaries of the United States and the island itself is managed by the National Park Service, however, both Parcs Canada and the NPS maintain interpretive sites for Saint Croix Island International Historic Site. The agencies cooperate to educate the public about the significance of the island to the cultural history of both nations.
— USNPS Daily Digest