Leelinaw LbNA #4559 (ARCHIVED)
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Add Location| Owner: | TJ_Mich  |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | Jun 29, 2003 |
| Location: | |
| City: | Ironwood |
| County: | Gogebic |
| State: | Michigan |
| Boxes: | 1 |
| Found by: | liberty4 |
|---|---|
| Last found: | Dec 30, 2012 |
| Status: | FFFFFFFaFaFFFFFFFFam |
| Last edited: | Jun 29, 2003 |
On a recent visit to Great Aunt Isabelle's house in Ironwood, Michigan, we were discussing how to spend our day. We asked Belle if there were any nice parks or beaches nearby -- it seemed like a great day for a hike or swim. She responded that, when she was younger, she used to go swimming at Little Girl's Point, about 20 minutes away to the North. We could go there to walk along the lake and hike through some trails --she thought it was one of the most beautiful beaches along the lakeshore. We readily agreed, and got out a map to see how to get there.
Ironwood is the westernmost city in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It is located along US-2, at the Wisconsin border, about 300 miles west of the Mackinac Bridge.
From US-2, head north at the second stoplight in Ironwood on County Road 505 (Lake Street, or Lake Superior Road). Continue north and west for about 17 miles to reach Little Girl's Point.
Little Girl's Point County Park includes a 30-site campground, a day-use area with picnic pavilion and rest rooms, a boat ramp, and access to an expansive beach. There is a $2 fee per vehicle for day use of the facilities.
About 5 miles further down County Road 505 is a small sign at the entrance to Superior Falls. You can park near the power substation, and a quick walk along the fence will lead you to a spectacular view of these falls on the Montreal River, which forms the border between Michigan and Wisconsin.
From here, you can continue south on County Road 505, which becomes Wisconsin Highway 122, for about 5 more miles to return to US-2.
Out of curiosity, I asked Belle why it was called Little Girl's Point; I joked that it must be where the girls liked to go sunbathing the most. She told us that there actually was a legend surrounding the area, connected to an Ojibwa (Chippewa) girl who disappeared many years ago. Belle headed downstairs to sort through some old newspapers, remembering that the Ironwood Daily Globe's big centennial edition had a story on the legend that explained it in detail. (I can only hope that, when I'm more than 90 years old, I can remember where to find a newspaper story from 18 years ago!) When she came back up triumphantly holding the paper in her hand, I had to concede to my spouse that saving everything isn't necessarily a bad idea.
The article recounted the story of Leelinaw, a young Ojibwa maiden. In the article, the authors referenced the very similar stories of Guy M. Burnham and Henry R. Schoolcraft, each of whom heard the legend from Odjibwa family or friends. The newspaper story continued:
---------------------------------------------------------
Leelinaw was the daughter of a hunter who lived near the base of the lofty highlands, called "Kaug Wudjoo" on the shore of Lake Superior. The name, "Kaug Wudjoo," gradually changed to "The Crouching Porcupine" and now is shown on the marine charts of Lake Superior as Porcupine Mountains.
Leelinaw, so the legend goes, loved to climb to the upper heights of the Kaug, and look far out over the waters of "Gitchie Gumee"; to the Islands of the Apostles further west and out across the waters of the inland sea, which now is called Lake Superior. Her view along the coast line to the west ended at a place where a point of land projects out into the water, the place now known as Little Girl's Point. No place had as great an attraction for her as the forest of pines stretching westward along the shore line to the Point. This was called "Manitowak," or the Sacred Grove. In the Sacred Grove there lived the Little Men of the Woods, the Fairies or "Puk Wudjinees," who came from the evening star.
The Sacred Grove was seldom visited by the Chippewas, but if in stormy weather hunting parties were driven ashore there, they never failed to leave an offering of tobacco and meat for the Little Men of the Forest.
The child of the hunter did not share with her parents their superstitious fear of the fairies, and so from her perch on the summit of what now is called "The Crouching Porcupine," she looked out over the Great Lake, and the Sacred Grove, and at the shoreline of the Apostles where the fairies dropped to the earth from the evening star.
One day, she ventured into the outskirts of the Sacred Grove. Her parents, when informed of her trip, told her to keep away from it; this only increased the little girl's visits, however, going further each day until she reached the Point itself. Her mother, who followed her to the edge of the forest one day especially feared that some bad spirit had enticed her daughter.
On one of her trips through the Sacred Grove, the hunter's daughter murmured, as she leaned against tree:
Spirit of the green wood plume, shed around thy leaf perfume,
Such as spring from buds of gold, which thy tiny hands unfold.
Spirits, hither spirits repair.
And like an answering echo, the rustling of the leaves seemed to say:
Maiden, think me not a tree, but thine own dear lover free;
Tall and youthful in my bloom, with the bright green nodding plume.
Thou are leaning on my breast; lean forever there and rest.
The hunter's daughter, now being of an age to marry, was expected to wed soon. Her parents chose a husband for her and fixed a date for the wedding. The day of the wedding arrived but the bride to be had disappeared. A search was made which extended even into the Sacred Grove, but the bride returned no more to her father's lodge at the base of Kaug Mountain.
One evening a belated party of fishermen passing close to the Sacred Grove saw a female figure standing near the shore at the Point. They rowed closer to the shore, but the figure retreated. She was clad in green and the youth who accompanied her wore a waving green plume in his hair.
The public park at Little Girl's Point includes the Sacred Grove, where the Puk Wudjinees or forest fairies lived, and Little Girl's Point takes its name from the hunter's lost daughter.
---------------------------------------------------------
Directly across from the Little Girl's Point public boat ramp, follow the path to Leelinaw's final resting place.
Continue past fallen trees along a ridge with a view of the creek. After the Holy Tree Trunk, you'll find a more open area, which leads into the Sacred Grove of birch and pines. Ahead on your right is a large fallen tree; its base is directly across from twin birch trees at the edge of the path. From the twins, look southeast to a fallen, peeling birch splitting two others.
Leelinaw is resting in the cleave of these two trees, under pieces of bark.
See more box information at AtlasQuest.
Ironwood is the westernmost city in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It is located along US-2, at the Wisconsin border, about 300 miles west of the Mackinac Bridge.
From US-2, head north at the second stoplight in Ironwood on County Road 505 (Lake Street, or Lake Superior Road). Continue north and west for about 17 miles to reach Little Girl's Point.
Little Girl's Point County Park includes a 30-site campground, a day-use area with picnic pavilion and rest rooms, a boat ramp, and access to an expansive beach. There is a $2 fee per vehicle for day use of the facilities.
About 5 miles further down County Road 505 is a small sign at the entrance to Superior Falls. You can park near the power substation, and a quick walk along the fence will lead you to a spectacular view of these falls on the Montreal River, which forms the border between Michigan and Wisconsin.
From here, you can continue south on County Road 505, which becomes Wisconsin Highway 122, for about 5 more miles to return to US-2.
Out of curiosity, I asked Belle why it was called Little Girl's Point; I joked that it must be where the girls liked to go sunbathing the most. She told us that there actually was a legend surrounding the area, connected to an Ojibwa (Chippewa) girl who disappeared many years ago. Belle headed downstairs to sort through some old newspapers, remembering that the Ironwood Daily Globe's big centennial edition had a story on the legend that explained it in detail. (I can only hope that, when I'm more than 90 years old, I can remember where to find a newspaper story from 18 years ago!) When she came back up triumphantly holding the paper in her hand, I had to concede to my spouse that saving everything isn't necessarily a bad idea.
The article recounted the story of Leelinaw, a young Ojibwa maiden. In the article, the authors referenced the very similar stories of Guy M. Burnham and Henry R. Schoolcraft, each of whom heard the legend from Odjibwa family or friends. The newspaper story continued:
---------------------------------------------------------
Leelinaw was the daughter of a hunter who lived near the base of the lofty highlands, called "Kaug Wudjoo" on the shore of Lake Superior. The name, "Kaug Wudjoo," gradually changed to "The Crouching Porcupine" and now is shown on the marine charts of Lake Superior as Porcupine Mountains.
Leelinaw, so the legend goes, loved to climb to the upper heights of the Kaug, and look far out over the waters of "Gitchie Gumee"; to the Islands of the Apostles further west and out across the waters of the inland sea, which now is called Lake Superior. Her view along the coast line to the west ended at a place where a point of land projects out into the water, the place now known as Little Girl's Point. No place had as great an attraction for her as the forest of pines stretching westward along the shore line to the Point. This was called "Manitowak," or the Sacred Grove. In the Sacred Grove there lived the Little Men of the Woods, the Fairies or "Puk Wudjinees," who came from the evening star.
The Sacred Grove was seldom visited by the Chippewas, but if in stormy weather hunting parties were driven ashore there, they never failed to leave an offering of tobacco and meat for the Little Men of the Forest.
The child of the hunter did not share with her parents their superstitious fear of the fairies, and so from her perch on the summit of what now is called "The Crouching Porcupine," she looked out over the Great Lake, and the Sacred Grove, and at the shoreline of the Apostles where the fairies dropped to the earth from the evening star.
One day, she ventured into the outskirts of the Sacred Grove. Her parents, when informed of her trip, told her to keep away from it; this only increased the little girl's visits, however, going further each day until she reached the Point itself. Her mother, who followed her to the edge of the forest one day especially feared that some bad spirit had enticed her daughter.
On one of her trips through the Sacred Grove, the hunter's daughter murmured, as she leaned against tree:
Spirit of the green wood plume, shed around thy leaf perfume,
Such as spring from buds of gold, which thy tiny hands unfold.
Spirits, hither spirits repair.
And like an answering echo, the rustling of the leaves seemed to say:
Maiden, think me not a tree, but thine own dear lover free;
Tall and youthful in my bloom, with the bright green nodding plume.
Thou are leaning on my breast; lean forever there and rest.
The hunter's daughter, now being of an age to marry, was expected to wed soon. Her parents chose a husband for her and fixed a date for the wedding. The day of the wedding arrived but the bride to be had disappeared. A search was made which extended even into the Sacred Grove, but the bride returned no more to her father's lodge at the base of Kaug Mountain.
One evening a belated party of fishermen passing close to the Sacred Grove saw a female figure standing near the shore at the Point. They rowed closer to the shore, but the figure retreated. She was clad in green and the youth who accompanied her wore a waving green plume in his hair.
The public park at Little Girl's Point includes the Sacred Grove, where the Puk Wudjinees or forest fairies lived, and Little Girl's Point takes its name from the hunter's lost daughter.
---------------------------------------------------------
Directly across from the Little Girl's Point public boat ramp, follow the path to Leelinaw's final resting place.
Continue past fallen trees along a ridge with a view of the creek. After the Holy Tree Trunk, you'll find a more open area, which leads into the Sacred Grove of birch and pines. Ahead on your right is a large fallen tree; its base is directly across from twin birch trees at the edge of the path. From the twins, look southeast to a fallen, peeling birch splitting two others.
Leelinaw is resting in the cleave of these two trees, under pieces of bark.
See more box information at AtlasQuest.