Sheshatshiu

Sheshatshiu stands by the narrow waterway between Grand Lake and Lake Melville, at the eastern end of a long Innu travel route into the Labrador interior. Innu families gathered here in summer after spending much of the year hunting caribou farther inland. Rivers and lakes led west towards Meshikamau, with portages and camps marking a journey followed by many generations.

In 1743 the French merchant Louis Fornel sent Jean Pilote and his son to establish a trading post at North West River, across the water from Sheshatshiu. Innu hunters brought furs to exchange for European goods, while continuing their seasonal journeys through Nitassinan. The gathering place connected the inland hunting country with the long inlet leading east to the Labrador coast.