Chief Wahbememe Burial Site
N 41° 47.851 W 085° 39.774
16T E 611086 N 4628159
Along US-131, at US-12. Near White Pigeon, not-so-coincidentally. Parking is available. It's in a nice little park on the corner, which is how we found it.
Waymark Code: WM12V7
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 12/28/2006
Views: 97
SIDE ONE: Potawatomi Chief Wahbememe (White Pigeon) was a signer of the 1795 Treaty of Greenville, which placed Michigan Great Lakes forts in U.S. hands. The chief was known as a friend to the white settlers in Michigan. According to legend, while attending a gathering of chiefs in Detroit, Wahbememe heard of a plot to attack the settlement that later became known as White Pigeon. The story states that he immediately set out on foot, running nearly 150 miles across the state without stopping for food or rest to alert the village. After warning of the impending danger, he collapsed from exhaustion and soon died. His remains are buried on this site, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
SIDE TWO:
In 1909 members of the Alba Columba Club, a White Pigeon women's group, raised funds and community support to create this monument to Potawatomi Chief Wahbememe (White Pigeon). The owner of the burial site, John Weaver, with the help of his sons and neighbors, loaded the granite boulder onto a wagon at the Edison W. Rockwell farm in Porter Township, Cass County. Four horses pulled it ten miles to this site. On August 10, 1909, a day-long celebration marked the occasion of the dedication of Wahbememe's memorial. Four thousand people, including Lieutenant Governor Patrick H. Kelley, watched as Chief Wahbememe's great-great-grandson, Willie White Pigeon, aged six, unveiled the finished monument.
Visit Instructions:Take a photo of your GPS at the marker. We'd prefer a photo of you with your GPS, but we realize that sometimes that's just not possible or preferable.
Also include a bit about your visit to the marker.
NEW: Instructions for logging Missing Marker Visits.
If the Marker is missing, but still listed here, you must provide a photo of you at the actual item historically honored. (This should be the waymark's "default" image). Indicate in your log that you took your photo at the Historical Location instead of the marker, because the marker was missing. Please also still include a bit about your visit to the site.