My Genealogy Hound

Spirit Houses, Old Indian Burial Ground, Bay Mills, Michigan, photos

Spirit Houses on the graves within the Old Indian Burial Ground, Bay Mills, Michigan. The Bay Mills Indian Community is in Chippewa County, on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan near the shoreline of Lake Superior on White Fish Bay. This cemetery is located northwest of Brimley, Michigan, not far from the Point Iroquois Light House. The cemetery was established in 1841 by the Ojibwe (Chippewa) Indians after they located in this area. See the additional photos below.

Another view of the Spirit Houses in the cemetery known as Old Indian Burial Ground, Bay Mills, Michigan. The sign at the back of the cemetery reads: "Old Indian Burial Grounds, 1841". See additional photos below.

The sign at the entry gate to the Old Indian Burial Ground. As stated on the gate, the cemetery is closed to the public. All of the photos shown here were taken from the outside of the cemetery fence. Just inside the gate and to the right is a very large pine tree, the subject of a legend dating to the time when the cemetery was established in 1841. See the photo below.

The Legend of this Pine Tree
Among the Indians who move from Nay O Me Kong to what is now the Indian Mission at Bay Mills, was a little girl of 15 named Eliza Waishkey nee Eliza LaBranch. It was Eliza who selected the tree, then only a twig and planted it at the head of her fathers grave, who was chief John Waishkey of the Waishkey band of Chippewa Indians. The tree a white pine was planted about the year 1841.