Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park -- Mackinaw City Michigan by Carrie Fancett Pagels

The Mill House at Old Mill Creek in Mackinaw City Michigan

If you're planning your next visit to a place this is not only historic, but beautiful, and you love 18th century destinations, add Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park in Mackinaw City. This is part of the Michigan State Parks, specifically the Historic Mackinac Parks. We purchased a summer pass this past summer so that we'd have admission to multiple locations for research (and enjoyment!) If you've got kids with you, or adventurous adults, they even have zip lines here and hiking trails.

As indicated on the sign above, Robert Campbell built the first sawmill in Michigan here near the Straits of Mackinac and aided the British in supplying lumber to build Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island. There is also a house on the site, representative of the miller's home during this time frame and beyond (look for a future post).

When you arrive at the park, you'll enter via the store. I'd been bringing my heroine Maude around to visit various and sundry places in the area while I was up North all of July. Above is a picture of the fun employees at the store who posed for a picture with her -- wink wink! (The cover of My Heart Belongs on Mackinac Island: Maude's Mooring.)

You'll want to find out when their historian will be speaking and take a bench to hear his fascinating discussion of Mill Creek.

After the initial presentation you'll go inside the Mill House. Again, the historian will tell you more history but also demonstrate how the saw works. The blade is really huge, see below!

Below is a brief video clip. Since my great-grandfather and other family members were some of the lumberjacks who cut down some of the great white pines, I cringed a little during this part of his speech!

You'll be instructed to go outside to see how the wheel works. It makes a beautiful sound. 

Also on the property are many plaques which explain types of sawmills and the engineering behind them. Allow plenty of time to read these, and observe the demonstrations at the Water Power Station.

This area of the park explains about the types of wheels and how they work to generate energy to power the sawmills. Below is one of the displays.

Question: Have you visited Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park -- Mackinaw City Michigan? Would you like to? Were you surprised that the miss was operational as early as 1760?

Carrie Fancett Pagels, Ph.D. is the Administrator of the Colonial Quills blog and author of RT Book Reviews Top Pick My Heart Belongs on Mackinac Island: Maude's Mooring. She enjoys history, research, and travel which comes in handy for coming up with her own pictures for many of her blog posts on Colonial Quills. 

The Laundress's Life at Fort Michilimackinac by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Laundress Reenactor at Fort Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City, Michigan

This summer I had the privilege of promoting my new release My Heart Belongs on Mackinac Island: Maude's Mooring up North, staying in Mackinaw City for a month! And we rented a cottage only a half mile from Colonial Michilimackinac, one of the Michigan State Historical Parks in the area.  So a beautiful walk along the Lake Huron shoreline away, we were able to enjoy programming at the fort! 

One of the wonderful presentations was about the role of the laundress at colonial forts. I was surprised to hear that the wife of a soldier could earn well more than her husband, by taking in laundry! I've read so many things about camp followers fulfilling these roles but I'd not thought about the many enlisted men's wives who might do so.  

The married enlisted men lived in homes inside the fort such as this one depicted below. So if the soldier's wife was a laundress, he'd enjoy a much more comfortable home because her funds could help purchase more goods.

Once previously we had a post about laundry day, by Lori Benton, (Click here to read).

One of the challenges a colonial-era laundress faced in the forts was in getting out stains in white shirts. A lot of scrubbing happened, and the sun helped, but if you want to know more about how laundresses worked their magic, we suggest you plan a trip to beautiful Colonial Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City!

Check out the huge pots of hot water and the way the garments are "hung" up. The depiction shown is during the time of British occupation of Fort Michilimackinac. The fort was originally made by the French, later was taken over by the British, was moved to Mackinac Island, and eventually the Americans took possession (before the Brits grabbed it again for a while!)

Have you heard? NINE of our Colonial Quills authors are part of the Backcountry Brides collection, from Barbour Publishing, which releases this spring in May! My novella, "Shenandoah Hearts" is set right before the onset of the French-Indian War and includes some forted drama. You can pre-order at Christian Book Distributors.

I will be one of the guests at the Virginia ACFW Facebook party on Friday, September 1st, with the 5:00 PM spot. Come by and visit with us for a chance to win a giveaway (click here). And my colonial-era novel Saving the Marquise's Granddaughter is part of this Celebrate Lit giveaway (click here.)

Giveaway:  Choice of RT Book Reviews' Top Pick Carrie's Mackinac Island-set novel or any of her books, including this upcoming release. Answer this question to enter the giveaway: Can you imagine living inside a colonial-era fort?