Archie Miller, a cantankerous Mack truck of a man who would walk calmly past the “No Indians” sign in the Hotel Northern, spent decades of his life in the Manitou Straits. He was a caretaker of the lighthouse, a lumberjack and one of the most sought-after hunting and fishing guides.
This year in the Glen Arbor Sun we’re publishing a series on the living legacy of the Native Americans. A desire to push back against the rise of xenophobia in contemporary America is not the only reason we chose to examine the living legacy of the local Odawa and Ojibwe among us. Across civil society in Northern Michigan, and throughout the nation, it seems that more and more people are interested in learning the Native perspective on this land and the human history it has witnessed.
This essay originally appeared in Stocking’s book Letters from the Leelanau, University of Michigan Press, 1990. We’re reprinting it to launch a year-long series in the Glen Arbor Sun about the living and present-day legacy of Native Americans in Leelanau—one that survives beyond history books and museums.