The stark, white cross, lit at night and highly visible from the Buttersville peninsula overlooking Lake Michigan, marks the spot where Father Jacques Marquette drew his last breath in 1675.

Born in 1637 in Laon, France, Marquette became a Jesuit priest. His interest in Native Americans led him to study their language in New France at the age of 29. Two years later, Father Marquette traveled as a missionary to Sault Ste. Marie, then later to LaPointe mission on Lake Superior. Here he met with members of the Illinois tribes who informed him of a "great river" (Mississippi), and invited him to teach. During this time, wars were brewing between the Hurons and Dakotas, and Marquette had to relocate to the Straits of Mackinac, where he began a new mission on St. Ignace.

Permission was granted to Marquette and Louis Joliet, a French Canadian explorer, for an expedition to find this river, which they hoped would lead to the Pacific Ocean. On May 17, 1673, with five voyageurs and two canoes, they set out from St. Ignace and followed Lake Michigan to Green Bay. Various rivers finally brought them to the Mississippi, which they became convinced flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, and not the Pacific Ocean. By the time they got to the Arkansas River, 435 miles north of the Gulf, they were told by friendly tribes that hostilities would await them further down the river, and the expedition decided to head back north.

Marquette and his fellow explorers returned to spend the winter in what would become the future city of Chicago, then traveled back to Mackinac in the spring. In 1675, Marquette decided to return to the Illini tribes, but a bout of dysentery which he picked up on his Mississippi trip, began to take its toll on his health. He wanted to make it back to St. Ignace, but it was not to be. Knowing the end was near, two French companions brought Father Marquette to the shores of Lake Michigan at what is now Ludington, Michigan, and he died on May 18, 1675. He was only 38 years old.

The shrine marks this spot, set between Pere Marquette Lake and Lake Michigan. His body was moved in 1677 to St. Ignace, and his grave is now found in the Ojibway Museum on State Street. In honor of this great missionary and explorer, many towns, rivers, and schools are named for him, including Marquette, Michigan and Pere Marquette River and Lake in Ludington, Michigan.