Editing Bois Blanc Township, Michigan (section)

==History==
{{see also|History of Northern Michigan}}
"Bois Blanc" is [[French language|French]] for "white wood".<ref>{{cite web |title=Linguee |url=https://www.linguee.com/french-english/translation/bois+blanc.html |website=Linguee French-English Dictionary |access-date=20 April 2019}}</ref> The name is commonly thought to be a reference to either: (a) the [[paper birch]], or more likely (b) the [[basswood]], called "bois blanc" in other contexts.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McAfee |first1=Chris |title=A Brief History of Bois Blanc Island |url=http://www.bbicf.org/history.php |website=Bois Blanc Island Community Foundation. |access-date=20 April 2019}}</ref> The basswood's white underbark was extensively used by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] and French-speaking fur traders for cordage, including the sewing up of canoes and the manufacture of webbing for snowshoes. Bois Blanc is in the traditional lands of the [[Mackinac Bands of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians]].

Bois Blanc was ceded by the local [[Anishinaabe]] ([[Ojibwa|Chippewa]]) to the [[United States federal government|U.S. federal government]] with the [[Treaty of Greenville]] in 1795 by Chippewa Chief Menehwehna.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bois Blanc Island |url=https://www.michmarkers.com/default?page=L1752 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410224833/http://www.michmarkers.com/default?page=L1752 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=April 10, 2019 |website=The Michigan Historical Marker Web Site |access-date=20 April 2019}}</ref> After extensive use as a source of kilned lime and firewood for [[Mackinac Island]] and other local frontier settlements, Bois Blanc was settled in the late 1800s as a summer resort community. The [[Bois Blanc Light]] lighthouse (1867) survives on the northern shore of the island; it is no longer in service as a lighthouse and is not open to the public.