Bay Mills Community taking over operations at Point Iroquois Lighthouse
The Point Iroquois Lighthouse is opening for the 2022 season on June 15 with new managing partners.
The Bay Mills Indian Community has entered a partnership with the U.S. Forest Service to manage the Point Iroquois Lighthouse.
The area has many historical connections to the Native American people, including the name of the lighthouse. The lighthouse is named after a battle between the local Anishinaabe from Bay Mills and an invading Iroquois war party in 1662.
The Point Iroquois Lighthouse has been a historic site since 1970 and since then has been a center of history and learning. Since becoming a historic site, the lighthouse has become home to a museum documenting the history of the Anishinaabe people in the area.
Around 40,000 people visit the lighthouse each year to see the exhibits inside and learn more about the history of the people that live in the area and their ancestors.
Now that the Bay Mills Indian Community has taken management over from the U.S. Forest Service, the museum is making some changes, including adding some new exhibits and opening year round.
Some older exhibits in the museum that live behind plexiglass that originated in the 1950s are being replaced with exhibits that are more interactive.
"We're going to be collecting the past and present and putting on live exhibitions with elders or teachers in the community, and the U.S. Forest Service," said museum director Candice LeBlanc. "They're going to be teaching us and visitors how to manage and operate the lighthouse and everything that goes along with it and caring for this historical building."
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The new exhibits will include photographs and stories and will continue to grow. There will be no physical additions to the building or other construction. Live exhibits will include learning about the origins of lacrosse, black ash basket and pottery making.
In addition to adding new exhibits, the museum will also be changing its hours of operation. In the past, the museum was open only in the summer months, but now the museum will stay open in the winter months to help accommodate the educational aspect of the lighthouse.
"We're hoping to keep the exhibits open year round, become a resource for local education and local institutions providing resources to schools," said LeBlanc. "It's only open during the summertime mostly, so the schools aren't able to take advantage of the history here and incorporate it in whatever curriculum they might have going on."
The museum hours will be 10 a.m. through 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday. Live exhibits will only be available in the summer months.
Contact Brendan Wiesner: BWiesner@Sooeveningnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Sault News: Bay Mills Community to run operations at Point Iroquois Lighthouse
