Rock Dunder is a tiny rock island extending just above the waters of

Lake Champlain Lake Champlain ( ; , ) is a natural freshwater lake in North America. It mostly lies between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canadian province of Quebec. The cities of Burlington, Ve ...

roughly southwest from the Burlington,

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

ferry dock. The water level averages

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

, and the rock protrudes only a few feet above that. The island becomes somewhat larger at low water. Rock Dunder and much larger nearby Juniper Island (visible in the background of the picture) are remnants of a large belt of Utica slate which once filled Lake Champlain from Shelburne to South Hero, part of a belt extending northward from the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

. The base of the rock is strewn with large boulders of Winooski limestone and Laurentian gneiss. According to

Abenaki The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pred ...

legend, '' Oodzee-hozo'' ("he who created himself") lived before the invention of legs. As he dragged his body around, he created mountains, valleys and rivers, as well as Lake Champlain, which is holy to the Abenaki. ''Oodzee-hozo'' turned himself into this rock in the lake, and there his spirit lives. An 1896 newspaper article says the

Huron Huron may refer to: Native American ethnography * Huron people, who have been called Wyandotte, Wyandot, Wendat and Quendat * Huron language, an Iroquoian language * Huron-Wendat Nation, or Huron-Wendat First Nation, or Nation Huronne-Wendat * N ...

and

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

would meet here at what they called ''Wujahose'' to make their treaties. While there is similarity between this name and the Abenakis', the question arises as to whether the Iroquois and Huron knew of or cared about the Abenaki legend and whether they would have been meeting here if they believed it was the embodiment of such a powerful spirit. The rock has often been mistaken for another ship on the foggy lake, and legend has it parts of the rock were blasted away throughout the Revolutionary war. Rock Dunder owes its name to one such incident. At the height of the

Battle of Plattsburgh The Battle of Plattsburgh, also known as the Battle of Lake Champlain, ended the final British invasion of the northern states of the United States during the War of 1812. Two British forces, an army under Lieutenant General Sir George Prévos ...

the patriots put a lantern on the rock which was shrouded in fog, to make it look like one of their ships. It worked, causing a British vessel to mistakenly fire on it multiple times. When the officer discovered his mistake he is said to have cried out "It's a rock, by Dunder!", earning the place its name.

References

{{authority control Islands of Lake Champlain Lake islands of Vermont Landforms of Chittenden County, Vermont Uninhabited islands of the United States

See also

References