Cross in the Woods

[2] The highlight of the shrine is a large wooden cross and bronze figure of Christ by sculptor Marshall Fredericks.

The site also includes outdoor and indoor churches, numerous smaller shrines, and a nun doll museum.

[3] In April 1946, Bishop Francis J. Haas of the Diocese of Grand Rapids searched for land to establish a new church in Indian River for parishioners who were traveling great distances to attend Mass.

Mr. James J. Harrington, a resident of Burt Lake, offered to help locate land for the new church which would put in place the first residential priest of Cheboygan County.

He came across the undeveloped Burt Lake State Park property and sought to acquire the land, but the Michigan Department of Conservation denied his request.

"[4] The original church was built in a "long house" style and designed by Alden B. Dow, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, to look upon the wooded area that surrounded it.

Today, this area houses the gift shop, main office and the nun doll museum in the lower level.

After discussion with Dow, Father Brophy decided to build the largest wooden crucifix in the world on Calvary Hill, located north of the Long House Chapel.

In the summer of 1952, redwood timber was custom cut with a chain saw from a lumber yard in Oregon and shipped on a railroad flat car.

Weighing seven tons and 28 feet (8.5 m) tall from head to toe, it was one of the largest castings to ever be shipped across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Jensen Foundation of Art Conservation cleaned, waxed and painted the bronze corpus over a period of several weeks.

After submitting a petition to become a national shrine, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops declared The Cross in the Woods as such in 2006.