Fort Michilimackinac


In 2015, I was honored to have the photo at left chosen for the cover of Michigan History Magazine which featured an overview of the 300 year old Fort Michilimackinac.

For a touch of history: Father Claude Dablon and Father Jacques Marquette, two Jesuit missionaries, established the first settlement along the straits of Mackinac in 1680, the area of the Great Lakes separating lower Michigan from the Upper Peninsula. They set up a mission on Mackinac Island named after Ignatius Loyola. Later, Marquette moved the mission to the north side of the straits in 1671 for better farming.
 

In order to protect the fur trade in the area, the French decided to fortify the outpost against the Iroquois, who were ready to threaten the territory and the fur trade business, so they built a small fort on the north side of the straits called Fort de Baude. When the fur trade generated a surplus, which became a problem for the French economy, King Louis XIV ordered it shut down, although it continued on a smaller scale. 


Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac was in charge of Fort de Baude but was ordered to move to Detroit, where it was thought the fur trading would be more secure. He encouraged traders to move to Detroit, but the trading around the straits continued and in 1715 Fort Michilimackinac was built on the south side of the straits directly next to the present day Mackinac Bridge.


 

The fort was surrendered to the British in 1761, and in 1781, they moved it to the more secure location of Mackinac Island and renamed it “Fort Mackinac” (pronounced “Mack-in-awe”), and the existing fort was ordered to be burned by Lieutenant Governor Patrick Sinclair.










 

Fort Michiilimackinac, basically in ruins and with only foundations of the buildings left, was set aside as a park and in 1909 was given to the state which has developed the fort into a historic state park with authentically reproduced buildings and an ongoing archeology program.


If you ever visit St. Ignace or Mackinaw City in order to take the shuttle to Mackinac Island, or if you are just passing through the area, I recommend you tour the fort which has several interesting archeological displays.

Information for this blog was taken from Wikipedia and an article in the 2015 November/December issue of Michigan History Magazine written by Craig Wilson.

For more of my Fort Michilimackinac images, please visit:
https://mary-bedy.pixels.com/collections/fort+michilimackinac





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