Circular outdoor installation with four colored sections in red, blue, yellow, and black. Surrounding it are four wooden benches, two small trees, and small plants, with a background of green trees and grass.

Anishinaabe Settlement

Welcome to the Anishinaabe Settlement at Heritage Village.

The earliest occupants of the Mackinaw Area, known as the Anishinaabe (or first people), have had to adjust to political, economic and cultural changes resulting from the arrival of Europeans, beginning with the fur trade and followed by population pressures and territorial loss. The challenge over the last 300 years has been to adapt to these new conditions while still maintaining the core values, beliefs and life styles.

Learn More About the Anishinaabe
Group of Native Americans and others gathered outdoors in a circle, some playing drums, during a fall celebration with autumn leaves in the background.
People working together outdoors, assembling a wooden structure in a wooded area with leafless trees and clear blue sky.

Explore Anishinaabe Housing

Two housing styles were used by the Anishanaabe from 1880-1917. The waganogan was the traditional winter family lodge. During this time, the Odawa and Ojibwe were determined to stay in the woodlands of the Great Lakes, and began an adaptation they hoped would allow them to stay alongside the incoming settlers. They began building and living in log houses, like the Detweiler farm house, or plank houses. While traveling, the Anishinaabe continued to use temporary wigwams and conical teepees, originally developed by Indians of the plains. ​

  • A waganogan is a traditional domed Native American lodge used by the Anishinaabe people as a single-family winter dwelling. Common among the Odawa and Ojibwe, waganogans were constructed from found woodland materials and typically covered with canvas or tree bark, making them well suited for the cold Great Lakes winters. These versatile structures served as shelter for sleeping, eating, and storage and allowed Anishinaabe families to continue living in the Great Lakes woodlands alongside incoming settlers. Waganogans remained in use into the 1940s, highlighting their lasting practicality. A new two-person traditional winter waganogan, built in 2024 with funding from the Daughters of the American Revolution, honors and preserves this important piece of Anishinaabe cultural history.

  • Typically these houses were 16 by 20 feet and constructed of found materials. The main floor provided living space and a second floor loft was for sleeping. There was an east-facing front door and several windows. The floor, often dirt, had a fire and a simple chimney or smoke hole in the roof that provided heat for cooking and warmth. Some houses had an open “lean-to” addition.

A rustic wooden barn with a slanted roof and small windows, located in a grassy field under a clear blue sky.

Annishinaabe Plank House

Circular outdoor setting with a painted red, white, and yellow section in the middle, surrounded by plants, small wooden benches, and informational plaques on black posts, with a background of green trees and a cloudy sky.

Medicine Wheel

A permanent, traditional physical metaphor for life’s journey, the Medicine wheel encompasses spiritual teachings, traditional medicines and illustrative stories. Within the wheel are representations of the four directions (East, South, West, North), four seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter), four elements (Fire, Mother Earth, Water, Air), four human races (Yellow, Red, Black, White), four kingdoms (mineral, vegetable, animal, human). four medicinal plants (Tobacco, Cedar, Sage, Sweetgrass), four human ages (Birth, Youth, Middle Age, Elder) and four human elements (Mind, Body, Emotion, Spirit). It is a spiritual guide to balance throughout life.