The Legend of Belle Isle

Belle Isle, the largest island park in the United States comprised of 985 acres, and the tenth largest municipal park in the United States, lies just a few miles from my home. The island was the first Detroit landmark to captivate my spirit. And now, after almost four months of calling this city home she has become my sanctuary.

When I find myself facing life's questions, and questioning my place in the world, I walk the Belle and feel at peace. Upon entering her hearth my spirit calms, my energies become grounded, and my heart opens. Her forest whispers the city's secrets; I just have to listen. Her shores render the region's woes; I just have to learn how to serve them. Her views offer a magically detached perspective of this city; I just have to learn how to look and embrace it with love.

It seems the Belle will play an important role in the growth of my Detroit roots. So in homage to her reflectively heroic guise, here is her story:

Long ago Ottawa Chief Sleeping Bear had a daughter so beautiful that he hid her along the shore in a boat covered with a heavy cloth. The chief wanted no one to gaze upon her as he was afraid that she would be stolen from him. One day when bringing her some food, the wind gods caught a glimpse of the maiden and, captivated by her beauty, blew hard enough to ripple the cover off the boat and force the craft into the river’s strong current.

As the boat floated past the lodge of the keeper of the water gates, he also was stunned by her beauty and retrieved the boat. He brought the young maiden into his tent. This enraged the winds who fell upon him, and buffeted him wildly about until he finally died from the beating. The winds, sorry for uncovering her beauty, returned the maiden back to her father, Chief Sleeping Bear.

The winds begged the chief not to hide her from them again, but to let them enjoy her beauty forever. To protect his daughter, the chief placed the princess on an island in the Detroit River and sought the aid of the Great Spirits to protect his beloved daughter by surrounding the island with rattlesnakes to keep mortals away.

The snakes succumbed to her charms and came to worship her. The Great Spirit made her immortal so that her spirit might live on Belle Isle forever. There she could run free with the winds around her. The spirits transforming her into a white doe and let her live out eternity on the island.

The water-gate keeper, who was killed by the angry winds was buried on Isle au Peche (Peach Island across the Detroit River on the Canadian side closer to the entrance to Lake St. Clair), where his spirit remained for many generations. Native American braves often sought out this spirit for counsel before going to war. His voice was heard through the wind in the trees and could be understood only by those who had prepared themselves through fasting and meditation. Even Chief Pontiac, before planning his war against the English, spent a week on Peche Island, fasting in order to clear his mind, and to seek the wisdom of the water gate keepers spirit.