Many centuries before Samuel de Champlain's July 1609 landfall, Isle La Motte was a meeting place for the lake's neighboring native peoples. The Wonbanakiak on the eastern shore called the land Bitawbagw, or "the waters between," while the Iroquois (Mohawk) of the western shore knew it as Caniaderiguarunte, the "gateway to the country." In 1666, French captain Pierre de Saint Paul, Sieur de la Motte, was detailed with 300 men to construct a fort on this site for defense against the English and Iroquois. When the fort was completed, it was blessed and dedicated to Saint Anne. Many landing parties later came here, but few stayed long, and generations of pilgrims left only a handful of relics in the earth while filling the place with prayer and memory.