Madeline Island
The community of La Pointe, located on the western edge of the island and established by French colonists as a fur trading post, was one of the earliest European settlements in the area.
A traditional Anishinaabeg story says that Great Spirit Gitche Manitou told the people to travel west to the place where the "food grows upon the water."
Madeline Island is named after Madeleine Cadotte, Ikwesewe, a daughter of the Ojibwe chief White Crane and his wife.
[2] The island was inhabited by Native Americans, fur traders, and missionaries for over 400 years, and has flown the flags of three nations: France, Great Britain and the United States.
In the early 19th century, La Pointe became the site of an important post of John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company, established in 1808.
Such women were integral to the trading success of their husbands, as they helped create goodwill and provided access to the Native American communities.
They started a French fur trading post on the island, which they then considered part of New France, although it was traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg and previous indigenous cultures.
From about 1660 through 1763, a fierce rivalry grew between France and Great Britain in North America, as each European power struggled to expand its fur-trading territories and control the lucrative fur trade.
As part of the Seven Years' War, British and French regular and mostly colonial forces, together with assorted Indian allies, fought in North America.
Having made millions, he left the trade before it declined and started to invest in real estate in New York and other cities.
[2] Later, in 1835, Father Frederic Baraga established a Catholic church on the island, at the site of the La Pointe Indian Cemetery.
The present La Pointe post office is located in half of the original "Old Mission" dining room.
[4] In the 19th century, the island was the home of Kechewaishke, or Chief Buffalo, who was instrumental in resisting the efforts of the U.S. government to remove the Chippewa from the region.
Chief Buffalo was granted a tract for his family on the mainland just west of Madeline Island, in what is now known as the Red Cliff Indian Reservation.
[citation needed] Hiking, biking, fishing and sailing are common activities, with bicycles and mopeds available for rent.
[citation needed] The golf club sports a course designed by Robert Trent Jones that features double greens.
[17] In the book Badger Boneyards: The Eternal Rest of the Story (2010), author Dennis McCann discusses the history of the La Pointe Indian Cemetery, and how it has sparked the imagination of people over the decades.
Riding the Wind is a musical production that portrays Bayfield and Old La Pointe, as told through story and song.
It has been produced at the Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua, an outdoor musical venue south of Bayfield.
