Finally--The Dig.

See also: “The Redcoats are Back!” & “Seeing People Fight Spaniards, Cancer, and Comic Book Villains All in One Day.”

While I’ve been to the Fort St. Joseph open house before, I have never been to the actual site. They would have plenty of stuff to do in the public park area but the actual site was further up the river a bit. The last time I was there, they wanted a donation. It was a suggested donation but I didn’t have any money and I didn’t want to embarrass myself and go in without offering anything. This year, I came prepared.

Here is the entrance to the site which is only a few hundred feed up from the dam.  The fort used to be lost to history until a few years ago when the site was found at the old dump near the paper mill.  There are no recognizable structures and what is left, you'd probably need an expert eye.

Students from Western Michigan University were stationed around to give visitors information as to what they were looking at.  Again, notice just how close this structure is to the river.  The toxicity of the dump and the presence of the river are two big constraints on the scope of this site.

It was all very fascinating and I wish I had devoted more time and taken advantage of what was offered.  I'd go again.  Unfortunately, if I heard right, the professor in charge of this project is going on sabbatical and the open house wont happen next year.  Again--if I heard right.  I'm not certain of that.