A Night at Michilimackinac: Island Students Learn, Live History
By Leslie Rott

Fifth grader Collin Armstrong of Mackinac Island Public School collects water from Lake Michigan, which he will carry back to Fort Michilimackinac. Students from the Island enjoyed an overnight stay at the Fort May 30 and May 31.

From Tuesday, May 30, to Wednesday, May 31, Mackinac Island Public School students in grades four through six spent 18 hours exploring life in the 1770s at Colonial Michili-mackinac in Mackinaw City.

They arrived with sleeping bags, pillows, and a change of clothes and met four park interpreters who taught them how to march with muskets, guard the Fort, plant a garden, carry water from Lake Michigan with a yoke and bucket, dip candles, card wool, and cook stew and biscuits over an open hearth. Students spent the night, dressed in period clothing, and got to eat what they cooked, and in the process, they learned the history of the Fort, which was moved by the British to Mackinac Island during the American Revolution.

Katie Cederholm, museum educator for Mackinac State Historic Parks, said the experience is particularly special for Mackinac Island students because some of them have ancestors who lived at the fort.

From left, fifth grader Leo Horn, sixth grader Anthony Rickley, and fourth grader Colton Fisher, with muskets and dressed in British red coats, are ready to defend the Fort from enemy attackers. (Photographs coutesy of Susan Bennett)

"These people aren't that different from us," Ms. Cederholm said of the Fort's inhabitants in the late 1700s. They did things in a different way, with different tools, but they had the same chores, like cooking, washing, and gathering food.

Before lights out, the young adventurers enjoyed a party, where they learned a paddle dance and a reel.

They slept in reconstructed historic buildings on straw tick mattresses, only to be awakened at 6:30 the next morning by a drummer marching through the barracks and the sound of church bells down the lane. After breakfast, they learned about the fur trade and fired a cannon to celebrate the coming of summer.

Students learned that colonial life was busy, with little time for leisure, so the people at the wilderness outpost entertained themselves with songs while they worked.

Fourth grader Colton Fisher observed that the work was very demanding, but he enjoyed sleeping on the straw mattress.

Of the program, Ms. Cederholm said, "The teachers really like what we're doing and the students love what they're doing." We are trying to create a spark. The most important part is that the kids have fun while they're learning. History is coming to life for them."

Chaperone Terrie Armstrong agreed.

"They loved the dancing," she said. "They really loved that at the end of the day after all the hard work They really enjoyed everything. I think it was an

exceptional program. I think it is something they will remember their whole lives."

Mrs. Armstrong said that she was surprised that students took the hard work in stride, despite heavy lifting and having to go into the frigid waters of Lake Michigan as part of the colonial experience.

While waiting for the ferry back to the Island, she said, the students lined themselves up and did the dance they had learned the night before.

History Nights at Michilimackinac was started five years ago and Ms. Cederholm said the program has grown each year,

with some classrooms being turned away this spring. The program runs from the middle of May through early June.

A fall program has 12 dates available, with a maximum of 28 students per session.