The Navarre Cabin &
The Navarre Homestead Project
Help us continue to improve the Navarre Homestead on The History Museum’s campus and to create an immersive, educational experience where visitors can learn about pioneer life.
About the Navarre Cabin
The original location of Navarre’s cabin is now at 123 West North Shore Drive, on the north bank of the St. Joseph River. Navarre sited his cabin for easy access to the St. Joseph and Kankakee rivers and the portage between, a primary route of travel for trappers and traders before established roads. His associated homestead extended from the river’s edge north to what today is Marquette Avenue. Navarre was recorded as living in the cabin by Father Sorin during an 1850 parish census. Following his death in 1864, Navarre’s land became the property of Samuel Leeper. The builders of Navarre Place (today’s magnificent homes along North Shore Drive) purchased the Navarre property from Leeper’s heirs for residential development. In recognition of its historical significance, the developers donated the Navarre Cabin to the Northern Indiana Historical Society (now d.b.a. The History Museum) in May of 1895. In 1904, the cabin was moved to a site noted as Bartlett/Marion streets, in Leeper Park.
Pierre Navarre was born in 1787 in Detroit and later moved to Monroe, Michigan. As an adult, Pierre was an agent for John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company, trading on the St Joseph River at South Bend, Indiana, in 1820. He is cited as the first European-descendant settler in St. Joseph County and one of the founders of South Bend. Pierre married Keshewaquay, the daughter of a Potawatomi chief. Keshewaquay was born in 1805. Upon her marriage to Pierre, she took the Christian name of Angelique. The couple had ten children. Pierre, Keshewaquay and some of their children went west along with many of the area’s Potawatomi who were forced to relocate to Kansas in 1838. This forced removal by the U.S. Government would come to be known as the Trail of Death. Upon Keshewaquay’s death in Kansas, Pierre returned to South Bend. He died in 1864 and is buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery on the campus of the University of Notre Dame.
The cabin has logs of oak, poplar, and other woods, the most readily available material on the frontier and possesses excellent examples of hand-hewing and dovetail notching techniques. It has two levels and is approximately 20’x20’. The space between logs is filled with daubing and chinking, which uses flexible materials to stop air, water, and pests from entering. Though things like windows and the roof have been repaired or replaced through its 200+ year life, many of the timbers remain from its original construction
Map of the Future Navarre Homestead
Below is a map showing the eventual completion of the Navarre Homestead Site. Each building will tell a portion of the entire story of the St. Joseph River Valley region.
