People outside the US tend to scoff a little bit when we start talking about history. Trust me, I get it. In a country that isn't even 250 years old, it's easy to assume much of our history is pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
Geology on the other hand is a different story. It could be considered the great equalizer in terms of history. While the US may not have centuries of political, religious, or familial conflicts, we do have the ground beneath us that has been around for millennia just like yours and touching those rocks can put you in tune with history just as much as anything else.
Before I go on about that too much, let me first finish up our visit to Fort Wilkins. You might recall we started here yesterday.
Once you get past the small row of married soldiers houses and workshops that I shared with you yesterday, the fort really opens up as you can see in the photo above.
I am sure they had brochures and pamphlets in the welcome center, but I found this map online if you want to get an idea of what each building is in the pictures you are seeing throughout this post.
I felt compelled to get some close up shots of this cannon because... well, I'm a boy and that is just want boys do I guess. Plus it is pretty cool and it seems to be in great condition. If I had to guess it is probably a recreation, but then again you never know.
I didn't take many pictures of the inside of the buildings because quite honestly I was more impressed with the view outside. It was an absolutely perfect day. The sky was blue as can be, the temperature was right around 75 degrees F, and the waters of Lake Fanny Hooe were alive with life. It was magnificent.
In case you couldn't figure it out from all the beds, this is the unmarried soldiers quarters.
Since I did quite a bit of walking around the fort on the Saturday we visited, I am going to include this post as a #wednesdaywalk post sponsored by @tattoodjay.
These are some pictures of the inside of the powder magazine. I thought it was one of the coolest buildings on the site. Probably not because of the building, but more because of the contents of the building. They had it staged rather nicely.
This is the back side of the officers quarters. They had a piece of information which stated the base commander had a wife but because of the regulation and decorum of the time, she wasn't allowed to fraternize with the other soldiers wives. What a lonely life it must have been for her all the way up in the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula.
It makes me sad to think about it.
I consider myself a bit of a photobug, so I felt it only right to take a picture of this old Kodak camera.
I also grabbed some other shots that I thought would make great stock photos. I might add them to the Hive Stock (or whatever it is called) project at some point in the future. The top one is the padlock they had on the door of the powder magazine and the bottom one is a carved stone that sat just above the doorway to the magazine.
Speaking of stock photos... This one would be perfect in the future for a crap post because in case you haven't guessed, that is an outhouse. Still fully functional I might add. Don't ask me how I know!
I was hesitant to share this next set of photos today. I feel like they would fit better a couple days from now in a #marketfriday post sponsored by @dswigle. It didn't feel right to exclude them though, so here are some shots of the fort store.
They really went all out with this building packing as many goods and wares into it as possible. The kids loved it and were looking at and touching everything!
One of the final buildings we visited had this model of the fort. It was pretty cool and the attention to detail was astounding. Some of the buildings in this replica are no longer standing, but the majority of them are.
We left Fort Wilkins the same way we came in, and if you look really closely in the photo above just right of center you can see the lady from my post yesterday was done hauling her water and she had started doing laundry.
Leaving Fort Wilkins and heading back west, we passed through the town of Copper Harbor again before turning left down a road that you would probably miss if you weren't looking for it. I know because I almost did even though I have been up this road before in 2020.
That road is Brockway Mountain Drive. I gave you a link to the Wikipedia article about it there in case you want more information.
In case you don't want to read about it, I will give you a quick synopsis. Brockway Mountain is a 1320 foot tall (400 M) volcanic landform.
You might not associate Michigan with volcanoes, but like I said, geology is the great equalizer and there is a fault line in Keweenaw that the mountain runs along.
I could talk more, but I think the pictures speak for themselves:
There was one point along the drive that two hawks were soaring just about level with our truck off to the side of the road where the cliff fell away. It was pretty awesome. The road doesn't get plowed in the winter, so that makes it pretty rough the rest of the year what with the thawing and heaving of the ground. I was probably going a little faster than I should have, but the hills and turns almost made it like a roller coaster. We passed a guy in a brand new corvette driving down the road and all I could do was cringe. Those things sit pretty low to the ground, so I can only imagine there was a lot of scraping happening underneath.
That's all I have for today. Check back tomorrow when I dig into the history and geology of the Keweenaw Peninsula a little deeper (literally!).
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Such a lovely place ,I am amazed on how they mainrain its cleanliness😍
For the most part our parks and rec departments and DNR do a really good job with the sites in Michigan. We are a huge tourism state, so they kind of have to!
Such beautiful pictures! Thank you for doing the hard part of reading and gathering this information so I can digest it super easily. I get super afraid of being alone in life, so the story about the commander's wife got to me a bit.
Man, living in Michigan sometimes feels like just a piece of paper with how flat it is relative to other states. These high-ground pictures showing all of the trees are always some of my favorites! Just something soo special about them for me.
Great post!
Thanks I appreciate it. You should really explore the UP when you get a chance. It is much different from what you are probably used to down where we live. Tons of old growth forests and "hilly" areas.
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Long stretch of open landscapes more rewarding than the deep history in a region.
M0uch like yourselves our history is not 'old' like Asia, Europe or United Kingdom, the little we have is interesting though.
Well preserved fort with outhouse in working condition, impressive 😅
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I agree, it's not the quantity that counts, but the quality! At least in terms of history!
What an interesting place, I to tend to take more photos outside places like this as it is to me so much more interesting, but that said I don't think I have even seen a powder room like the one you showed so cool to see
Thanks for joining Wednesday Walk :), I truly enjoy exploring the world virtually each Wednesday seeing walks from all around the globe and feeling I am there and experiencing it all myself, such as I did in your post just now :)
Yeah, I haven't seen one so well kept. I guess that was the good part about them being so far from anywhere, they didn't really have to worry about conflicts too much.
I would love t visit that fort sometime it looks amazing and to see that roo it looks untouched and pristine
Nice little trip back in time!
I'm impressed by the military discipline of lawn mowing! Can't be cleaner!
Haha, yeah. I am guessing the parks department takes care of that now. Looking at the model, the center yard would have been mostly dirt back in the day!
So much cool history up there! We haven't been there in a couple years. Did you find any cool copper pieces? Did you see the Petroglyphs? Can't wait to see what other adventures you take through our beautiful state!
No, we didn't do the petroglyphs. We did find some cool copper that I am going to write a different post about but it was all manufactured. Nothing raw in the wild.
Copper harbor is so beautiful. I love all the old Michigan forts!
How long were in that outhouse? :D :D I thought the first photos of the barrels were some alcoholic beverages :D
I envy the hawks. I wish I could fly over those trees and landscapes.
I wish! That would have been super cool!
It's a different world up there for sure.
What beautiful scenery. I have been as far north as the Upper Peninsula. Iron Mountain and Crystal Falls. Never got to Copper Harbor. One of these days.
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Definitely worth it! Some of the prettiest scenery in our whole state and that is saying a lot.
Something to think about for when the gas prices come down out of the stratosphere. Have a great rest of your weekend!😀
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Good Morning and Thank you, @youarealive! Enjoy your day.😀
Beautiful photos! It reminds me of that film with Kevin Costner and the western frontier. lol
Dances with wolves?
Yeah