This bronze statue near Lake George commemorates the life of Father Isaac Jogues, a French missionary born in 1609 in Orleans, France, the birthplace of Joan of Arc. He was captured by the Mohawks in 1642, and tortured when several of his fingers were gnawed off by his captors. He eventually escaped and returned to France. Jogues then came back to New France (Canada) and departed South into New York. Here he was again captured by Mohawks where he was tortured and killed when they blamed him for their crop failure. Jogues named the lake-- Lac Du Saint-Sacrament (Lake of the Blessed Sacrament) -- when he saw the lake, probably in 1646.

The lake was renamed Lake George over a hundred years later in 1755, by General William Johnson, in honor of King George II, the British monarch. In 1930, Jogues was canonized a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.

This monument was erected by the state of New York in July 1939.  It overlooks Lake George from the South Shore, near Fort William-Henry.

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Page last modified 8-Aug-1998.