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By
James P. Millard
Identified on modern
maps as "Rock Dunder", this small outcropping in Burlington
Bay is more properly identified by its original name
Long before the
arrival of French explorer Samuel de Champlain in 1609, the waters
of Lake Champlain were traversed by native peoples, inhabitants who
had been here for countless generations. The region was known as
ndakinna, Our Land. The Iroquois resided mostly to the west of
the great lake toward the mountainous region we now know as the
Adirondacks, while the Abenaki people lived to the north and east of
bitawbágw, our Lake Champlain. The Abenaki traveled through
the formidable mountains to the east by following the rivers that
flowed west into the lake. Tribal legends tell of the supernatural
being who formed this great lake and these rivers- Odzihozo, the
Transformer...
Odzihozo
created the great lake, the rivers, the mountains and valleys that
comprised the Abenaki homeland. This being wasn't "God", he wasn't
the Creator himself; he was one of a number of supernatural beings
who inhabited the same forests, fields and waterways of the
People of the Dawn. Odzihozo did create himself.
According to the myths, however, Odzihozo had some trouble
completing the task. William A. Haviland and Marjory W. Power, in
their excellent The Original Vermonters: Native Inhabitants, Past
and Present, tell us that "...he managed only his head, body
and arms; the legs came later, growing slowly as do the legs on a
tadpole." 1 Yet Odzihozo was impatient, even before
he was fully formed, he set out to change the earth. He did so by
dragging himself about with his hands, creating the river channels,
mountains and valleys in the process. His last great act was the
creation of bitawbágw, Lake Champlain.
Odzihozo was pleased
with himself and his handiwork. The noted Abenaki ethnographer
Gordon M. Day explained just how happy he was with the fruits of his
labors— "The last work he made was Lake Champlain. It was his
masterpiece. He liked it so much that he climbed onto a rock in
Burlington Bay and changed himself into stone so that he could
better sit there and enjoy the spectacle through the ages." Day
also tells us that the Abenaki would bring offerings of tobacco to
Odzihozo right up until the 1940's.2
![USGS topographical map of Burlington Bay [1956] showing "Rock Dunder"](../graphics/odzihozo/rock_dunder_topo1956.jpg) Sources/notes:
Author note: The
following sources are excellent for information about the Abenaki. I
highly recommend each as sources of further study.
Odzihozo photo by the
author. Map detail from USGS topogrpahical survey, 1956.
1 Haviland, William A. and Power, Marjory W. 1994.The
Original Vermonters- Native Inhabitants, Past and Present.
Revised and expanded edition. University of Vermont.
Published by University Press of New England.
2 Day, Gordon, M. 1998. IN SEARCH OF NEW ENGLAND'S NATIVE PAST- Selected
Essays by Gordon M. Day. Edited by Michael K. Foster and William Cowen.
Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
Last revised
August 27, 2007 |
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