Investigation Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller
Date: September 8, 2026
After bicycling the first of two eight-mile laps around the beautiful island, we attended 11am mass at this church where construction began in 1874 and finished in the mid-1880’s. A museum on the ground floor displays relics and the history of the parish and the area. Inside the church above the alter is a painting of St. Anne, the mother of Mary.
However, the catholic presence and the first catholic church structure on the island dates back to the late 1600’s. Just down the street is the Mission of St. Ignace Chapel, a birchbark structure that housed Father Dablon’s small chapel in 1670. Father Marquette moved the mission to the mainland in 1671 establishing the permanent mission there.
