or J. Hector St. John or Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur born Jan. 31, 1735, Caen, France died Nov. 12, 1813, Sarcelles French-U.S. writer and naturalist. He traveled to the New World in 1755 as an officer and mapmaker and became a farmer, then served as French consul for many years. He returned to Europe in 1790. His fame rests on Letters from an American Farmer (1782, 1784, 1790), essays that paint a broad picture of American life. His Travels in Upper Pennsylvania and New York appeared in 1801. Newly discovered essays were published as Sketches of Eighteenth Century America in 1925. In his time he was the most widely read commentator on America
Rocky, almost circular islet rising out of Mont-Saint-Michel Bay between Brittany and Normandy, northwestern France. It only becomes an island at high tide. Around its base are medieval walls and towers, above which rise the village's clustered buildings, with an ancient abbey crowning the mount. Over the centuries it has been a pilgrimage center, fortress, and prison. The fine abbey church has an imposing 11th-century Romanesque nave and an elegant Flamboyant-style Gothic choir. The exterior walls of the Gothic monastery building combine the power of a military fortress and the simplicity of a religious building. Some of the houses bordering the island's narrow, winding streets date back to the 15th century