The Hidden Culture of Upper Peninsula Michigan - Part 2 - by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

The Hidden Culture of Upper Peninsula Michigan – Part 2 – by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Along the way to Mackinac Island, my mother would stop at a restaurant where we could sample some of the history of the Upper Peninsula. 

As we spread paper napkins on our laps for lunch, she remarked, “Paper napkins are a paper product from the lumber industry.”

“The Swedes, the Finns, and Cornish from England worked in the iron and copper mines, farming, lumber, and freight ship industries here,” she said.

“Didn’t our ancestors come from Cornwall?” I asked.

“They did, but they did not work in the tin mines of Cornwall or in the iron and copper mines here.  There were ship captains, who sometimes sold gin to miners,” she said with a shake to her head.

At almost every diner along the way to Mackinac Island, you can order the following three items in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan:

-Cornish (English) pasties filled with beef, potato, turnips, and onions.  The folded over crust has a braided edge and looks like an empanada.

-Finnish keralian pastry made with rye flour crust and filled with potatoes, rice, or carrots

-Swedish cinnamon rolls with confectioner’s sugar frosting

All this can be eaten with mild Vienna roast coffee with cream.

After lunch, we set out for Mackinac (pronounced “Macinaw”) Island.  Mackinac Island is located in the Mackinac Straits between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.  You have to take a ferry out to Mackinac Island and leave your car behind; Mackinac is a pedestrian-only vacation spot.

Fort Mackinac has its place in history as an easy victory for the British in the War of 1812 when the 50 soldiers at the Fort faced an army contingent.  They surrendered without battle.

Since that time, Mackinac Island has had a decidedly English flair.  You can buy tea everywhere, but not coffee, the American beverage.

The 19^th century Biddle House has re-enactments of curing meat for winter, which you had to do to survive Michigan winters.  I learned that bacon comes from a pig here.

The freighters that glide from one lake to another form the constant picture show for the Grand Hotel where we went for afternoon tea after visiting the hotel’s carriage museum.

We sat in the lobby and sipped Darjeeling tea that we ate with scones and marmalade jam and clotted cream for the scones.

I knew I was getting deluxe treatment as a kid in this lovely hotel that is still owned by the same family today.

On the way back to the ferry, we bought caramel candy and saltwater taffy.  My mom drove across the Mackinac Bridge to the Lower Peninsula and Detroit.

The drive in the UP was a vacation all by itself I felt even as a young girl.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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The Hidden Culture of Upper Peninsula Michigan - Part 1 - by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

The Hidden Culture of Upper Peninsula Michigan - Part 1 -by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

When my mother and I would visit our relatives in Wisconsin in fall, she would drive back over the Upper Peninsula to see the fall colors.  I was eager to do the “nature” drive since I had seen the aurora borealis dancing in the night sky in yellows, blues, greens, and reds from my grandparents’ house in the “Northwoods” of Wisconsin.

My grandparents lived in a community of descendants of immigrants from Switzerland.  Breakfast before the Upper Peninsula tour was half English and half Swiss: eggs and bacon followed by hot chocolate and has browns that resembled Swiss roesti potatoes with sour cream on top.

After breakfast, my mother and I boarded the Thunderbird she drove with an armload of baked goods and magazines for me.  As we drove down the driveway, my mom turned on classic rock that she played till she reached the Michigan borders where she began her travel log.

“The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is attached by land to Wisconsin and not the Lower Peninsula of Michigan.  Politics and business needs created the borders here,” she said.

“How did business get involved?” I asked.

“It all began with the glaciers,” she began rather facetiously.

“Glaciers covered Michigan.  When they began to melt and retract they left gouges in the Earth that became the Great Lakes.  Water transport is inexpensive compared to overland transport.  There are iron and copper mines in the Upper Peninsula that industry needs,” my mom responded as a diligent and knowledgeable person who worked with the advertising department at The Detroit Free Press newspaper.

“Are other things transported on the Great Lakes?” I asked trying to use the same “grown-up” vocabulary she did.

“The Free Press can get newsprint by the Detroit River and over land,” she said.

My mother spent time talking with me, because she knew you can usually get your foot in the door in many industries in sales.  The best salesmen know their territory and their product or service very well.  I was getting a “territory” lesson on the ride home.  Cold, rural places often have trouble finding employees sometimes.

As we drove along inside Michigan, signs likes Ishpeming, Marquette, and Mackinac Island showed up to give some indication about part of the history of the Upper Peninsula.

There were several Native American tribes in this area including the Pottawatomie, Chippewa (Ojibwe), the Sauk, the Foxes, and the Mascoutens.  The French came to this frigid area to trap animals for fur used in the fashion industry and set up trading posts.

The English always seem to compete with the French, so they soon followed with trading posts as well.  To this day, Canada, which is nearby, is a bilingual English and French country with the province of Québec as its main French-speaking province.

End of Part 1.

To be continued…

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

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Boston Homage Walk - Part 3 - By Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Boston Homage Walk – Part 3 – By Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

With my books in tow, we toured Cambridge.  We took the T Red Line back to Boston and took the Freedom Trail to Paul Revere’s home.  Paul Revere (1735 – 1818) is famous for alerting the Patriots that the British were coming as war started.

Revere’s parents were French Protestants (Huguenots), who taught him to be a silversmith.  I have seen his work at the Henry Ford Village in Dearborn, Michigan.  Revere’s simple lines and curves make his works easy to hold and behold.

Revere’s home was made of wood and had shutters on the bottom floor windows and diamond-pane windows on the second floor.  Both features appeared defensive.

We could just view the exterior of the home due to the hour and walked to Faneuil Hall.

Peter Faneuil gave this hall to the City of Boston in 1742.  Peter Faneuil (1700 – 1743) also had French Huguenot parents.  He made his fortune in the Triangle Trade of rum and slaves.

We were very tired from walking by this time and went to McCormick and Schmick’s for dinner.  Laurent ate clam chowder and lobster while I tried fish chowder and a mini clam bake.

Wow! That was a good meal after a good day of hiking through Boston and Cambridge.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Boston Homage Walk - Part 2 - By Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Boston Homage Walk – Part 2 – By Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

From Boston Latin School, we walked to the Granary Burying Ground along the red brick Freedom Trail.

The Granary Burial Ground is the final resting place of Samuel Adams.  He has a large headstone.  Pebbles were placed on his headstone.  I have always viewed him as “No more man.”

John Hancock is buried here along with Ben Franklin’s parents, who taught Franklin to be good at everything, including writing and scientific observation.

The “real” mother goose is buried here as well according to guidebooks.  I paid homage to her and thanked the writers Perrault and the Brothers Grimm for collecting mother goose tales from all over Europe.

From the Granary Burying Ground, we went to the State House that was built after the Revolution.  We visited inside and out and agreed that Massachusetts has nice architecture.  Behind the State House is Beacon Hill with its lovely homes illustrating the best in New England’s domestic architecture.

We walked to the Boston Common park and finally rested on a park bench by a gazebo with Ionic columns.  Boston Common is the oldest city park in the United States.

We were hungry and planned out how to get to the Red T Train (subway) out to Cambridge, so we could visit Harvard University.

We went to a restaurant there that allowed you to pick out your burrito ingredients.  The burrito tasted great with a Samuel Adams ale.  I think the name of the restaurant was The Thirsty Scholar, but I could be wrong.

After lunch, we visited the Harvard Quads.  In the center of the main quad stands a statue of a seated John Harvard.  The statue is bronze with shiny shoes.

The legend has it that if you touch John Harvard’s shoes, you will gain admission to Harvard one of our family friends told us.

I went to a bookstore to buy souvenirs – two books.  One was on the geometric art used in mosques and the other was on the different elements used to make color pigments for painting.

End of Part 2.

To be continued…

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Boston Homage Walk - Part 1 - by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Boston Homage Walk – Part 1 - by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

My husband Laurent and I visited Boston for a convention and spent one weekend day touring Boston.

We began our tour at the port to see the USS Constitution.  This small ship is most famous for its part in the War of 1812 where it earned the nickname “Old Ironsides.”

The USS Constitution is still commissioned as a Navy ship.  It is a tiny ship that is perfect for maneuvering around Boston Harbor and its islands despite the harbor having been filled in substantially since the founding of Boston.

From the USS Constitution, we set out on Boston’s Freedom Trail, which is 2.7 miles long and has 16 official stops.  The USS Constitution is stop 15.  We started at the Freedom Trail’s end and worked our way backwards to stops teachers and writers would especially want to see.

Stop Number 6 is the Boston Latin School, the first public school in America.  One of my erudite classmates at the University of Chicago attended this venerable institution and is now a TV show host in Texas.

Other notable alumni of Boston Latin from the Revolutionary period include:

-Samuel Adams (1722-1803), who organized the Boston Tea Party to protest English taxes on imported items sold in the US

-Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790), a non-graduate who was an author, printer, postmaster, and diplomat among other trades

-John Hancock (1737 – 1793), a signer of the Declaration of Independence, whose beautiful signature still elicits comments such as “Put your John Hancock on this.”

-Robert Treat Paine (1731 – 1814), signer of the Declaration of Independence

When Boston Latin was founded, students had to master knowledge of the Bible.  When Harvard University was founded in 1636, Boston Latin became a feeder school for Harvard University.

An alumnus of both schools was the second US president John Adams (1735 – 1826).

Girls were tutored at home during the colonial period.

End of Part 1.

To be continued…

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Click for Laurent Paget's Book

Ruth Paget Selfie