The Des Rivieres at House 7, a Michilimackinac Case Study

Summary

Michilimackinac, located at the crossroads of the Great Lakes, was a fortified trading settlement and entrepôt, rather than a traditional military fort. Although the military played an important role at the settlement, more than half of the space within the palisade walls was taken up by the church/mission complex and civilian homes. This paper will examine the French Canadian civilian experience at Michilimackinac through the prism of the excavation of a specific row house unit, House 7 of the South Southwest Row House. This row house was constructed as part of the first major expansion of Michilimackinac in the 1730s, and occupied until the entire settlement was moved to Mackinac Island in 1779-81. For most of its existence, the house was occupied by fur traders, including the Des Riviere family.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014   •
• More than Ramparts and Redoubts: Forts and Families of New France

Keywords

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 1715 to 1781

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-21,04

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