Manitou Camp
Manitou Island, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, WISignificance: The Manitou Camp is an important historical site because it is the area's only intact, unaltered site representative of a lifestyle that was basic to the development of the Old Northwest that of the European male without family ties, who survived on the resources of the land and whose life was characterized by transiency and seasonal changes of the men who occupied the Manitou Camp, same logged, some fished, some did both. The camp represents a particularly rugged aspect of commercial fishing as it is practiced in this area and one that is not found in other surviving island camps, namely, winter fishing-both open water herring fishing and gill-netting through the ice. The buildings of the Manitou Camp, which have not been structurally altered since they were constructed, contain a wealth of objects and implements remaining from the first historic occupants of the site to the most recent. Many objects related to winter fishing as it has been practiced since the nineteenth century remain in situ at the camp. Artifacts underground are expected to be numerous and in good condition because of the nature of the soils at the site. The site has not been disturbed; the historic scene is intact.
Local significance of the building:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.