Leelanau Peninsula


The Leelanau Peninsula is a peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan that extends about from the western side of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan into Lake Michigan. Leelanau County encompasses the entire peninsula. It is often referred to as the "little finger" of the mitten-shaped lower peninsula.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is located on the west side of the peninsula. Leelanau State Park and the Grand Traverse Light are located at the northern tip. Grand Traverse Bay is on the east side and Traverse City is located at the base of the peninsula on the east side. The North and South Manitou Islands are located to the northwest of it. Lake Leelanau runs through the middle of the peninsula and covers.
The steep terrain and large bodies of water produce a milder microclimate than the more temperate areas further inland. Some of the area was developed for agricultural purposes and annual festivals related to the cherry crop have been held in Traverse City since 1925.
In the early 21st century, the Leelanau Peninsula AVA is known as one of the best Michigan wine regions and is a designated American Viticultural Area. The peninsula is also a productive fruit region growing apples and tart cherries.
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa are a group of Native Americans who live on the peninsula around Peshawbestown, Michigan. Their ancestors were among the Algonquian-speaking tribes that largely occupied this area prior to European colonization.
Communities on the peninsula include:
Native Americans who first inhabited the area called this land "ke-ski-bi-ag," which means "narrow body of water," and called the lake "lee-lan-au," which means "delight of life."
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, the United States Indian agent for the territory in the early 19th century, was credited with formally naming the county. He also used the name Leelinau for a character in his writing. Married to Jane Johnston, daughter of a prominent Scottish fur trader and Ojibwe chief's daughter based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and Michigan, he learned about the Ojibwe through his wife's and mother-in-law's family. See Leelanau County for a more complete discussion of the etymology of the name.
Scholars have established, however, that Schoolcraft's wife Jane Johnston Schoolcraft first used Leelinau as a pen name for her writings in The Literary Voyager, a family magazine which she and her husband wrote together and circulated among friends in the 1820s. Jane Johnston's mother was Ojibwa and her father a Scots-Irish native who immigrated to Canada. She and her siblings were well-educated and she wrote in Ojibwe and English.
While her writing was not published formally in her lifetime, since the late 20th century Jane Johnston Schoolcraft has been recognized as "the first Native American literary writer, the first known Indian woman writer, the first known Indian poet, the first known poet to write poems in a Native American language, and the first known American Indian to write out traditional Indian stories." In 2008 Jane Johnston Schoolcraft was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.

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