Huron Home

This is a reconstruction of a Huron dwelling of the 17th century. It stands in St Ignace, at the top of Lake Michigan. A French mission was built in the 1670s. Here, the Jesuit missionary, Father Jacques Marquette preached to the Huron people. Father Marquette and Louis Jolliet led a small group of voyageurs that discovered and explored the upper Mississippi in 1673 . In 1675, Marquette died and was buried on the shore of Lake Michigan, Two years later, his bones were retrieved and taken to St. Ignace for reburial. Several Huron families called this structure "home". It is built of logs and branches of various lengths and sizes. The skin is tree bark. Holes in the roof allowed smoke to escape from several small fires that were used to cook family meals and for warmth. A long wooden bench runs the entire length of the structure on each side. Here, people slept and stored their belongings. There was very little privacy in this building. But,from what I have read, our sense of privacy is a rather modern concept. It appears this home was quick to build as there were plenty of hands helping gather the needed materials. The tools originally used were flint axes and knives.