Qualla: Bois Blanc Island (Michigan)

Bois Blanc Island (Michigan): Introduction

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Anishinaabe called it Wigobiminiss - 'tying bark island' - for the basswood trees whose white inner bark they stripped to sew birchbark canoes and weave snowshoe webbing. French voyageurs translated the name directly: Bois Blanc, white wood. English-speaking settlers mangled the pronunciation into 'Boblo,' and the name stuck. Twelve miles long and six miles wide, this forested island sits in Lake Huron just southeast of its famous neighbor Mackinac Island, yet the two could not be more different. Where Mackinac draws millions of tourists to its fudge shops and Grand Hotel, Bois Blanc remains what Mackinac once was: wild, quiet, and largely empty. No paved roads cross the island. Towering white and Norway pines cover state-owned forest land. The roughly 60 year-round residents know every boat on the water and every set of tire tracks in the sand.

Bois Blanc Island (Michigan): Bark, Bone, and Deep Time

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Human presence on Bois Blanc reaches back thousands of years. The Juntunen archaeological site, on the island's northern shore, has yielded one of the most important prehistoric records in the upper Great Lakes. Excavators recorded 25 stratigraphic layers representing six distinc...

Bois Blanc Island (Michigan): Fugitives, Pinkerton Men, and War

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Bois Blanc's remoteness made it a natural refuge - and a staging ground. During the War of 1812, U.S. Navy Captain Arthur Sinclair's fleet sheltered at the island while preparing to attack the British garrison at Fort Mackinac just a few miles northwest. The island's harbors offe...

Bois Blanc Island (Michigan): Lime, Lumber, and Summer People

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

For much of the 19th century, Bois Blanc was a working island. Its forests were cut for firewood and lumber, much of it shipped to Mackinac Island, where woodcutting was prohibited. Lime kilns burned island limestone into the quick lime essential for mortar and plaster. But as th...

Bois Blanc Island (Michigan): The Island That Waited for Light

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Bois Blanc Island operated without electricity until 1964. That year, the Presque Isle Electric and Gas Co-Op completed a 3.7-mile underwater cable from Point Nipigon on the mainland. At the time, approximately 200 structures stood on the island - cottages, cabins, a few year-rou...

Bois Blanc Island (Michigan): Getting to Boblo

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Reaching Bois Blanc requires intention. Plaunt Transportation operates the sole ferry service, running daily from Cheboygan when the straits are not frozen. The Kristen D can carry 16 vehicles - a number that reflects the island's scale. There is also Bois Blanc Island Airport, a...