Native Expressions Ojibwa Museum Store
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| Sales clerk Krystal Wilkins at Native Expressions, the Ojibwa Museum gift shop. It has an excellent selection of native crafts (like this case of quill boxes) and books. |
The museum shop clearly has the Upper Peninsula's largest section of books and music about Ojibwa, Huron, Odawa, and other Eastern Woodland Indians and the best selection of locally made, certified Native American art and craft, both traditional and contemporary. It's a peaceful place that shows the results of knowledgeable selection and a good eye for display. The French history of the Straits is another shop theme.
Here are black ash baskets, porcupine quill work, antler and bone carving, birch bark containers and cutouts, dreamcatchers, paintings, and books by local authors, including Not First in Nobody's Heart, Ron Paquin's memoir of his boyhood and his dreadful yet all-too-common experience in Indian boarding schools, in his case the one at Holy Childhood in Harbor Springs.
In the off-season buyer Becky Calcaterra seeks out books about Michigan and Great Lakes Indians. Over the years the shop has a really impressive selection. Many people are interested in tracing their Native American ancestry. Here is a DVD on geneology, applicable to Native Americans from near and far, plus books and information sheets on where to find family records. The staff is happy to mail books year-round.
566 N. State, at downtown's north end, across from the Star ferry dock and Kiwanis Beach. (906) 643-9161. Open from Mem. Day thru Oct. 31 and by appointmen throughout the year. Callo ahead. Hours up to late June: Mon-Sat 11-5, Sun 10:30 to 5. Summer season: daily 10 to 8. From Labor Day to closing same hours as June. Free admission. Wheelchair-accessible.
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POINTS OF INTEREST
Bridgeview Park. Great views up at the Mackinac Bridge from a pleasant park with picnic shelters. Interesting historical video monitors and pictures with text about the bridge and previous transporation across the Straits are in an enclosed pavilion with restrooms. ... more
Museum of Ojibwa Culture. See how Ojibwa social values and their subsistence culture adapted to the climate. View change at the Straits in the 1660s from the native perspective of indigeous Ojibwa and Odawa and Huron newcomers, when the French fur trade was moving in. A fine small museum. ... more
Marquette Mission Park. The peaceful park has well-done interpretive panels about the Straits history of Ojibwa, Odawa, and Huron people and Father Marquette's Catholic mission, possibly at this very location. An authentic Huron longhouse and Ojibwa tipi are open without charge. ... more
Native Expressions Ojibwa Museum Store. This peaceful shop carries traditional crafts (quill work, baskets, more) plus certified contemporary Native American art. Here too is the U.P.'s largest selection of books and music about Eastern Woodland Indians and French-Canadian Great Lakes history ... more
Downtown St. Ignace. Downtown highlights: an interesting book and magazine store, a shop with antique lighting and furniture, and a choice arcade of shops ... more
Huron Boardwalk. A mile-long harborfront path with benches shows off a busy harbor and has Mackinac Island views. Interpretive signs and a Mackinaw boat convey the area's rich history ... more
American Legion Veterans Memorial Park. A waterfront park with picnic area, telescope, popular play structure, and beach often used by scuba divers visiting shipwrecks. At the nearby Star Dock, Mackinaw Parasailing ... more
Sunset Cruise or Vespers Cruise under the Mackinac Bridge. 1-hour narrated ferryboat cruise or vespers cruise take visitors under the Mackinac Bridge and out into Lake Michigan for seeing the sunset. ... more
Coast Guard Cutter Biscayne Bay. Docked at St. Ignace, this modern icebreaking harbor tug clears the Straits for freighter traffic each year and is occasionally open for scheduled tours ... more
Dock #3 Park. Former staging area for the car ferry neeed before the Mackinac Bridge, this uncroded park is a nice place for picnics and a view of the Coast Guard Cutter Biscayne Bay. ... more
St. Ignace trolley tour. 2 1/2-hour tour of area on 30-person bus goes across the bridge for Mackinaw City sights as well as St. Ignace's ... more
US-2 Mackinaw Bridge to Naubinway. A terrific introduction to the U.P. after crossing the Bridge, long vistas revealing one shoreline point after another emerge ... more
MANLEY'S FISH MARKET. Outstanding fresh and smoked whitefish, homemade jerky, and beef sticks. They can be eaten at picnic tables on a pleasant, shady lawn ... more
John Herbon Pottery Studio. John Herbon and three fellow potters work and show here. John's classic shapes are simply embellished with lizards, fish, ... more
Jabber Joe's. Offbeat variety/antique shop with frozen custard, too. Strong on candy, repro toys. ... more
Castle Rock. Stairs lead to the top of a natural limestone tower with a grand view of St. Martin Island, St. Ignace, and Mackinac ferries. A great family roadside attraction ... more
Horseshoe Bay Wilderness Trail/Hiawatha National Forest. A one-mile hiking trail through a mixed forest and wetland leads to a secluded Lake Huron beach, part of the 3,800-acre Horseshoe Bay Wilderness within the Hiawatha National Forest. ... more
Carp River Canoe Trail. An easy, scenic trout stream for family paddling with informal campsites by the river ... more
St. Ignace Wi-fi Hotspots. Public Library has wi-fi. 110 W Spruce St. just off I-75 Business (State St) south of downtown. ... more
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