350th Celebration at Fort Winnebago Surgeons Quarters

Re-dedication of marker; reenactors; Ghost Hunt at Fort Winnebago Surgeons Quarters
 

The Marquette and Joliet expedition reached its 350th anniversary this year. In 1905, the Wau Bun Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution dedicated a granite marker noting the spot where the exploring duo made their way into the Wisconsin River.

On Saturday, August 19 at 9:30am, a re-dedication is planned for the marker, which was moved from its original spot at the Dairy Queen parking lot. The re-dedication will be held at the site of the marker's new location -- just across the street, on the south side of Wisconsin Street. All are welcome to attend.

Later, from 11am to 3pm, re-enactors of the Marquette-Joliet journey are planned to be at Fort Winnebago Surgeons Quarters and answer questions. Surgeons Quarters opens at 10 a.m. that day. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., members of the Illinois-based Jolliett Marquette Expedition III will be highlighting the French Jesuit missionary, Father Jacques Marquette, and French-Canadian fur trader Louis Joliet’s (aka Jolliet) search for a water route from Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean.
 
Lead re-enactor Greg Taylor said the group will be sharing a variety of topics related to the French and, specifically, French voyageurs’, involvement with French North America. They include: “Where is this Misippi River that the Native Americans talk about?” “What is a voyageur and why?” “Who were Joliet and Marquette?” “What's so great that the king of France, Louis XIV, would send a layman and a priest to investigate potentially dangerous foreign lands?” “What’s so great about the Midwest?” And “Filles du Roi: The daughters of the king.”
 
The group also will be exhibiting a full voyageurs encampment with two Algonquin fiberglass/birchbark canoes, a covered tent, boxes, barrels, fur bales, copper cookware, wood bowls, copper cups, flintlock, trade goods and more.  “If Joliet and Marquette had it with them then, then we do,” Taylor said.

Then, The Society for Anomalous Studies, famous for its guided paranormal tours of Milton House and other historical locations, will be on site at Fort Winnebago Surgeons Quarters from 7pm to 9pm on Saturday, August 19. The group will use its expertise to investigate Surgeons Quarters and the Garrison School. Tickets, which cost $40, are limited. Click Here for more information.