Pallisades and prayerhouses

Just a few miles southwest of Lafayette we visited Ouiatenon (hwe-at-enon) Park. This was once a thriving fort occupied by French voyageurs from Quebec who paddled down the Wabash River to trade for beaver and buffalo pelts captured by the Wea Indians. And to convert them to Catholicism. And to act as a barrier to the British who were inching westwards into what would later become Indiana. As you stand on the edge of the riverbank it is easy to imagine the welcoming hoots and hollers as the French moored their craft and the whiff of woodsmoke as animal skins were stretched to dry over charred wooden racks layered atop hot coals.

They were mates, the French on this bank and the Wea, settled on the opposite bank. But then came the Brits, muscling in for their share of the spoils, and the hollers soon became howls as the interactions turned increasingly nasty, warlike and destructive. Until, finally, even the memory of where the Wea and the French voyageurs once lived, laughed and traded, was lost and long forgotten. 

And the cumulative guilt from such history might possibly explain what calls folk nowadays to build the ubiquitous prayerhouses around these parts. There are so many. Faith, hope and charity is available on practically every major intersection. Often in massive religious complexes bigger than supermarkets on entire city blocks that might house schools, community meeting houses, retreat facilities, private residences for the needy or the religious, contemplative nooks and revival meeting halls. And, many times, all of the above in each complex.

So numerous are these, with so much money tied up in their construction and maintenance, that you can't help but hope that, unlike the French, the Wea and the British, they all continue to make happy. And that there's always enough to go around.

Replica blockhouse from the days of the French often built into pallisaded walls 

Replicas of fort buildings in Ouiatenon Park

Typical of Indian settlements with wigwams of sapling, reed and fur and lean-tos as shelter for the fire pit and village folk 

Wabash river was once hectic with fur trade 

What home might have looked like during the Wea times

A tiny portion of one of the massive religious complexes in town. This one is called Faith. 

Squirrel ensuring there is enough for the winter