Highlights Archives
Spending Summers in the Apostle Islands
The 22 islands that comprise the Apostle Islands are Wisconsin's northernmost location and one of its most historic places, inhabited by Native Americans, fur traders, missionaries, lumberman, settlers and travelers for centuries. The largest of the islands, Madeline Island, was named for Madeleine Cadotte, daughter of Ojibwe Chief White Crane and the wife of trader Michel Cadotte, in the 1790s, and is home to Wisconsin's oldest permanent settlement, La Pointe. The rich history of the Apostle Islands is brought to life all summer long at the Society's Madeline Island Museum and online, where a selection of historic images are the featured gallery this month from Wisconsin Historical Images, the Society's online image database.
Native Americans lived on the islands long before European contact. The region's rich fur resources proved a major draw to Europeans, whose early North American economies were driven by the fur trade. French explorer Etienne Brule may have visited the island in the early 1620s, but the first recorded European visitors were Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Medard Chouart Des Groseilliers who came seeking furs in 1659. Fur traders depended on the aid and knowledge of Native Americans to help harvest the region's bounty, and they returned to Eastern fur centers with important information on frontier geography as well as pelts. Missionaries also realized the potential of Christianizing the tribes and a mission was soon established at La Pointe that served as an outpost for French, British, and finally American traders for 150 years.
The construction of locks at Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan opened the Lake Superior area to settlers in the 1850s. Lumbering and mining in the area brought more people northward and, spurred by railroad promoters, the area also began to attract summer visitors. Passenger and freight ferries crisscrossed Chequamegon Bay. Rail systems soon replaced all ferry transport in the region, however, save for the route connecting Bayfield to La Pointe. By the early 20th century, summer trips to the Apostle Islands had become an annual ritual for many wealthy families. One of those summer visitors was Leo Capser, who in 1955 recruited his fellow island residents to establish Madeline Island Museum, which opened in 1958 and was given to the Society a decade later. This late 19th- and early 20th-century period of island history is richly illustrated in this month's online gallery. Many of the photographs were taken by Elizabeth Abernathy Hull who spent her summers at her family's summer cottage, Coole Park Manor on Madeline Island.
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Today, Madeline Island Museum includes portions of a surviving American Fur Company building, an old barn, the former La Pointe town jail, the Old Sailor's Home, and the modern Capser Center, which house one of the richest historical collections in the state. The museum also hosts a variety of special programs and events to highlight its storied past:
Discover for yourself the timeless allure of the Apostle Islands in this month's image gallery and at the museum dedicated to the region's past. Read more about Elizabeth Abernathy Hull in the Wisconsin Magazine of History (PDF 401KB).
:: Posted June 15, 2007
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