From collection Place
This memorial plaque dedicated to explorer Samuel de Champlain can be found just off ME Route 3 near the start of the Day Mountain Trail. The plaque has been relocated from its original spot in Seal Harbor to land now managed as the Hunters Cliffs Natural Lands of the Land and Garden Preserve. The inscription reads as follows.
IN HONOR OF SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN
BORN IN FRANCE, 1567
DIED AT QUEBEC 1635
A SOLDIER SAILOR EXPLORER
AND ADMINISTRATOR
WHO GAVE THIS
LAND ITS NAME
THE SAME DAY WE PASSED ALSO NEAR AN ISLAND
ABOUT FOUR OR FIVE LEAGUES LONG…IT WAS
VERY HIGH, NOTCHED IN PLACES, SO AS TO APPEAR
FROM THE SEA LIKE A RANGE OF SEVEN OR EIGHT
MOUNTAINS CLOSE TOGETHER. THE SUMMITS OF
MOST OF THEM ARE BARE OF TREES FOR THEY
ARE NOTHING BUT ROCK….I NAMED IT THE
ISLAND OF THE DESERT MOUNTAINS.”
TRANSLATION FROM CHAMPLAIN’S JOURNAL
5 SEPTEMBER 1604
THIS MEMORIAL WAS ERECTED BY THE SEAL
HARBOR VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY
IN 1904 – THE 300TH ANNIVERSARY
OF CHAMPLAIN’S VOYAGE.
