Pointe Aux Barques Resort Noted in the Standard Guide to Mackinac Island & Northern Lake Resorts 1899

January 26, 2022January 12, 2023

Excerpt on the Pointe Aux Barques Resort taken from the Standard Guide to Mackinac Island and Northern Michigan Resorts 1899.

The Standard Guide; Mackinac Island and Northern Lake Resorts. It is a visitors handbook written in 1898 detailing early tourism to Mackinac Island. For 25 cents it gave the potential visitor a glimpse of what to expect at Michigan’s premier tourist destination. However, the ads and descriptions of the other northern Michigan resorts of the day are fascinating.

Caro Water Works – The 6 Challenges That Had To Be Solved

December 10, 2021June 7, 2022

In May of 1887, the Caro community voted on its first public water system. It would be built by a private company and be called the Caro Water Works.

The creation of the Caro Water Works Co. sought to solve problems of a small growing city in rural Michigan in the late 1800s.

Great Lakes Shipbuilding in Caseville

November 25, 2021November 25, 2021

In the late 1800’s Caseville Michigan was a booming town. This included large ship building.

4 Hair Raising Tales of Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes

November 20, 2021July 5, 2023

Tales of four ghost ships of the Great Lakes. The 1800s was an era of ships plying the waters over 2000 miles of waterways. Some never made it to port but sailors claim to see these ships still plying waters.

Huron County Township Names – 28 Amazing Little Stories

November 20, 2021August 16, 2023

Found this little poem in the book Huron County Illustrated History. I thought it was a bit interesting to know how the origin of the place names for Huron County township names.

Also, did you know the name “Huron” was a Chippawa word? It’s pronounced “u-ron” meaning curved coast.

Henry Schoolcraft Travels to Charity Island 1820

November 19, 2021November 19, 2021

Henry Schoolcraft was asked to join an expedition organized by Governor Cass of Michigan in 1819. Its purpose was to locate the source of the Mississippi River’ and explore the Great Lakes region. As an expert mineralogist, he was tasked with describing Michigan’s significant topographical features, natural history, and mineral wealth. The expedition took approximately 40 men in five long voyageur canoes commonly used in the fur trade on the Great Lakes. At 35 feet long and 6 feet wide, the canoe had an amazing capacity of four tons. They started the journey on May 24, 1820.

The Horrid History of 3 Indian Boarding Schools in Michigan

October 22, 2021November 2, 2024

Michigan’s Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School indoctrinated 300 children each year and ran until 1934. There were also schools in Baraga and Harbor Springs.

For decades, the US took thousands of Native American children and enrolled them in off-reservation boarding schools. In fact, this was government policy to assimilate an entire people by forcibly removing children from their families and indoctrinating them into the Anglo language, religion, and way of life.