The "Heart of Turtle Island:" Heritage Site in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

FAIN: CHA-261927-19

Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (Lansing, MI 48933-1521)
Sandra S. Clark (Project Director: March 2018 to present)

The completion of planning and first phase of construction for a cultural heritage complex in Straits State Park in St. Ignace, Michigan, focusing on the history and culture of the region’s Native American people and early French settlers.

The Michigan History Center, as a member of the Straits of Mackinac Heritage Center Collaborative, is proposing to transform a historic state park previously focused on one French explorer and missionary into a site for decolonizing and contextualizing the history of Anishinaabe and French life in the Straits of Mackinac.  Straits State Park in St Ignace, Michigan, is the site of the Father Marquette National Memorial. From 1979 to 2000, it was also the site of a state-run museum, which was destroyed by a lightning-caused fire. With this project, the Collaborative will turn that tragedy into an opportunity to decolonize interpretation of some of the earliest American encounters between Native peoples and Europeans. The grant will catalyze this project, supporting final site planning, fund development, and infrastructure for the dedicated Pow Wow grounds on the site.