Cross Village is one of the oldest settlements in Michigan and today is known for its ties to the Ottawa people.

Early records say that Father Jacques Marquette, the famous French Jesuit who endeared himself to the Native American population of northern Michigan, planted a huge white cross on the bluff overlooking Lake Michigan before his death in 1675.

To the French, this region was known as "L'Arbre Croche"; to the Ottawas, it was called "Wau-gaw-naw-ke-ze"; and to the English-speaking people at the time, it was simply known as "Land of the Crooked Tree".

He spoke and developed written Native languages and is credited for spreading the Gospel among the local Ottawas and Ojibwe.

Father Francis Xavier Pierz, Bishop Baraga's friend and fellow Slovenian, was also assigned to Cross Village for many years.

Father Pierz, however, was bothered by the increasingly settled nature of the region and departed for the newly organized Minnesota Territory in 1852.

Today, a replica of Father Marquette's cross stands at the edge of the bluff and is visible from off shore, far into Lake Michigan.

The "Tunnel of Trees", a breathtaking scenic drive down the winding Lake Michigan shoreline runs between Cross Village and Harbor Springs to the south.

Parts of the Cross Village area are protected nesting grounds for the endangered piping plover.