For an anthropology minor such as
myself, every anthropology class I have taken has been really insightful and very interesting.
But this class, Anthropology in the Community, has really kicked my interest
in anthropology into high gear. This class has presented a real hands on
learning opportunity for me to learn more about a site that I had never heard
of before: Fort St. Joseph. Even though I've taken Michigan history courses and
anthropology classes that focused on this region, I can honestly say I had
never come across this fort in my studies. Hearing that this site is trying to
take its place in the history of the French traders as well as the state of
Michigan itself and being able to be apart of that is an amazing
opportunity.
As my partner, Kyle has previously
stated, our focus in the storehouses and the powder magazine and we have found
evidence of documented goods that would have seemed traveled through . Due to the fact that the
site has little remains of any of the physical buildings that we believe once stood
there, we have based much of our research on what we have seen at other forts
around the state and its neighbors. These storehouses would have been very
important considering the large volume of French traders and missionaries
transporting trading goods such as food or even weaponry throughout the
state(s). This sort of revenue not only could have benefited the fort but the
travelers and small towns that were either nearby or were part of the fort.
By focusing on the other forts, we
can hope to find patterns that hopefully paint a better picture of what this
mysterious fort would have looked like and how it functioned. Also by hopefully
finding these clues, we want to better educate others on how significant Fort
St. Joseph could/would have been. Taking what we discover and displaying that
information for people from all to see, will and has been a really fun
experience. I hope to see a large turnout for when we contribute our project to
the exhibit, and to hopefully give Fort St. Joseph a better shoutout.
Sincerely,
Jenna
Combs
