MLive says: “History and beauty combine for a special experience at Sanilac Petroglyphs Historic State Park. It's a lovely place for a hike, like any state park, but what makes this place so special is the petroglyphs. This is the only known place in Michigan to find rock carvings attributed to Native Americans. There are specific times to view the carvings between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Check out the park's Michigan DNR page for more info.”
June 26, 2020
Before we got to the State Park, we of course stopped at a lighthouse on our way up. Port Sanilac Lighthouse is actually a private residence, but you can see it from the breakwall and it’s quite cute! Bill really loves lighthouses so we stopped for quite a few on this trip.
This was my first ever visit to Ezhibiigadek Asin (the given name for this place by Chippewa people). I really didn’t know what to expect, but was nearly moved to tears by what I experienced in this sacred place.
The Marshall standstone formation makes a ring around most of Michigan’s lower peninsula, and in certain areas it breaks the surface of the earth and is exposed. Ezhibiigadek Asin is one of these locations, and contains petroglyph etchings from about 1,400 years ago, left by indigenous people. The site has been used for indigenous ceremony and culture for at least 8,000 years, according to archaeologists. The carvings were first found by European immigrants in 1881, after a severe fire decimated much of the forest area in the thumb. (over one million acres burned in less than one day during a drought). This fire exposed the sandstone, once covered by vegetation. Between 1881 and 1971, the sandstone was researched and studied, as well as vandalized and robbed (carvings were removed from the rock, leaving large holes in the surface). In 1971, the site was turned over to the Michigan DNR to manage as a state park, and in 2019, just last year, an agreement was signed by the State of Michigan and the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe to co-manage the land, finally returning the site back to its original people.
The signs that greet you at the parking lot trailhead display both English and Anishinabek, the native language of the Anishinaabe people.
The walk to the petroglyph site is on a short gravel path. The exposed sandstone is actually contained within a fenced enclosure with a covering over the top, to protect from vandalism and weathering. Upon entering the enclosure, we were met by Michigan DNR staff who took us on a “tour” of the carvings and explained certain symbols around the stone. We were told the stories of turtle island, the underwater panther (Mishibizhew), the Thunderbird, the archer (Ebmodaakowet), Migizi Inini (the Eagle Man), and more. Seeing the etchings in the stone and knowing who put them there, and why they put them there, connected me to this place in a mysterious way. I took no photos (although it is allowed) to show respect for this place of spirituality, meditation, and ceremony. It just didn’t feel right to lift my camera to this specific place.
Down a short path away from the petroglyphs was a grove of trees where folks had deposited tobacco ties, an obvious sign that we are all guests in this space.
Bill and I found the hiking paths that led us away from the main petroglyph site, along the Cass River. The sandstone came up through the earth all over the grounds, and if you looked hard enough you could convince yourself you were seeing more lessons left behind by the ancestors of this place. It is likely some of those were real carvings, weathered away by water and wind and sediment over the years. Although the main sandstone surface is protected and highlighted, this entire piece of land is sacred territory. The hiking paths were full of beautiful rock formations and diverse trees, and invited a lot of magical thoughts to enter my mind as we walked.
Bill and I came across the most massive pine tree either of us had ever seen in our lives on this hike. It was bigger than the virgin pine trees at Hartwick Pines State Park, which claims to have the only virgin pine stand in the entire state of Michigan. I would bet money that this grandmama tree survived those fires in the 1800s, and stood tall, renewing the forest by its own labor, season after season. She had outgrown any pine tree at Hartwick - that’s for sure. I hugged her and thanked her.
There are some places that photos and words can’t capture, simply because of their aura and energy. Some places bring you to tears for the same reason. This is one.
Chi Miigwetch, Ezhibiigadek Asin.