Griffon Park: A Quiet Reminder of La Salle’s Bold Dream on the Niagara
In earlier posts, I’ve written about the Griffon—the legendary ship built by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle—right here in Western New York. La Salle wasn’t just passing through; he came with an audacious vision: to dominate the entire Great Lakes region and eventually claim the Mississippi River basin for France.
His mission was fueled not only by empire but by commerce—especially the beaver pelt trade, which drove European expansion deep into Native lands. Though his story is often buried beneath louder chapters of American history, his legacy lingers—if you know where to look.
Take Griffon Park, a quiet stretch of green near Cayuga Island, just off the Niagara River. You won’t find crowds or monuments here—just a kayak launch, a meandering stream, and a hush that lets nature take over. Raccoons scurry through the brush, and you might catch sight of a beaver gliding across the water—descendants, perhaps, of the very creatures La Salle’s men came seeking.
To La Salle and his crew, this must have felt like an alien world—thick forests, strange waterways, unfamiliar animals, and a harsh winter landscape nothing like France. But to the Indigenous peoples who had lived here for generations, the arrival of La Salle must have felt like an alien invasion—foreign men building massive wooden ships in sacred lands, claiming territory that was never theirs to claim.
Yet from this small park—modest and easy to overlook—Le Griffon was launched, one of the first European ships ever to sail the Great Lakes. The very idea of constructing a ship of that size in the wilderness still feels surreal. But it happened. And that mix of awe, ambition, and disruption still echoes here.Western New York is full of places like Griffon Park—quiet, beautiful, and rich with complicated stories. All you have to do is pause, look a little deeper, and remember that history isn’t always in the textbooks. Sometimes it’s just waiting in the water.
Just a reminder—there are subtle tributes to Niagara’s incredible history hidden all across Western New York and Southern Ontario, if you know where to look. Quiet nods to the past are everywhere, like in the photos of the park below. Keep your eyes open—history lives here.
