Ft. Wilkins, on Lake Fanny Hooe, is a Michigan State Park (and my first Fort!).

I was taken there as a baby on family picnics with relatives, who lived in the 'Copper Country'. I had ancestors, who lived there in 1865. I've been back there a few times, over the years, but, not in the last 20 years.

Located at Copper Harbor on the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula, it is a 650 mile drive from Detroit. It is worth the drive, especially in the Fall, with tremendous colors and spectacular views of Lake Superior. (In July and August, probably the best time to see the Fort, the 'Blackflies' and Mosquitoes can be terrible).

The Ft. Wilkins post was built during the 1844 "Copper Rush", abandoned during the Mexican War, leased for time as a health 'retreat', and briefly utilized by an Army company in 1869-1870.

It is a neat 'back-water' military post, that was remote and beautifully situated. It does not appear breech-loaders ever made it there.

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