The act of independence is drafted and signed on the Vernet property

The act of national independence of Haiti of 1 January 1804 was signed and drawn up on the Vernet property, at the Gonaïves, which today belongs to the Legros family. Quite recently, the old copper candlestick that had served to light Dessalines’s secretary, the famous Boisrond-Tonnerre, was still shown in that family, together with an old table with a broken leg, on which that memorable act was drawn up. The fire of 1864 devoured these precious relics, which the Haitians had neglected to gather up, they who are nevertheless so proud and so jealous of their independence.

Rouzier tells this under the entry Gonaïves (les).