The Bois Blanc Island Site

[Cindy Childs]

Does anyone know about the old dig site on the east end? How old is this site? What tribe or tribes used the island? Where does the sweet grass grow? What do you do if you find a burial site here? I know it is pre-white men, but at the Ojibway Museum they make a lot of references to our little paradise without calling it by name. Does anyone know anything?

[Troy]

I am going to see my mom and grandma, in Florida, this week. They will be able to tell me more about this, I thought our ancestors lived on or near the island and they were Chippewa indians. Mike should be able to help us out here. Mike?

[island turtle]

We'll definitely have to have Mike get on here and share his "wisdom".

[mikewhite]

To Cindy, I am not aware of an old dig on the east end. There was a dig done in the early 1960's at the west end. If you do find a burial, avoid disturbing it, and contact the state acheologist. It is a federal crime to mess with burials.

To Troy, The only indians that I am aware of, in historical times, mostly clustered around the west end. A prominent name of one family was Andress. The remains of some of their homes can be found on the left side of the two-track that goes to the point. I have quite a bit of info about that group. They were mostly unaware that 500 years earlier another group had lived in the Juntunen clearing nearby. The people that lived there in the 1300's were closely connected to those who lived in south west Ontario at that time. Those indians were probably not aware that about 300 years earlier another group had lived there that had close ties west of the straits. That group probably were not aware that about 200 year earlier others had lived there. Then again, they were probably not aware that about 700 years earlier others had lived nearby. In other words, from time to time indians lived at the west end of Bois Blanc from about the time of Christ, 0 B.C. up till the the island was opened for homesteads in the 1880's.

[island turtle]

Cindy, have you seen the site personally, or was this info from the museum? Curious because I'm unaware of it also. The schoolkids and I had an archaeologist look at a site of funny rock formations about 12 yrs. ago, but it turned out to be nothing much.

[bknoll]

I did my student teaching in Flushing and also coached football there for four years with the current varsity coach. Do you have children in school and where do you stay on the island?

[Primitive1]

If you'd like to learn more about life on the island before European contact come on out to the Great Lakes Primitives Summer Gathering August 7 - 10. There are flyers posted and the web address is: http://www.msu.edu/~oberg/boisblanc.html