Pointe Michel

The village of Pointe Michel stands on a raised delta of volcanic debris formed by pyroclastic flows from the Morne Plat Bay volcano. The area was first inhabited by Amerindian people from South America, the last group being the Kalinago(Caribs). Pointe Michel was one of the first areas of Dominica settled by the French in the early 1700's. In the 1730's John Baptiste Peltier a small farmer from Martinique settled here, his decendants are some of the most prominent residents in the town. During this time Dominica was under the British control. In 1778 and again in 1805 the French attacked, the first time pulling out, the second time eventually gaining control of the island country. From the early days of French settlement the Roman Catholic faith has been strong. In the late 1800's the French and British built estates( what we would call plantations) and had slaves to harvest their crops. Pointe Michel became a large slave trade business area because of this. In the mid 1950's some changes finally came freedom, electricity and telephones. The first dirt road was built in the 1960's. In 1979 Pointe Michel was nearly wiped out by Hurricane David. Everything that was present has been rebuilt, but not much more. The people who live in Pointe Michel say this is a people first area vs building into a lorge city. They would rather see the area stay as it is.