Big Rock Point 3
by Lydia Holly
Title
Big Rock Point 3
Artist
Lydia Holly
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
On US 31 between Charlevoix, Michigan and Petoskey, Michigan is a gorgeous small roadside park ( Robert Adams Roadside Park ) that gives beautiful views of Little Traverse Bay and wildlife along the shore. Ducks, shore birds, and geese can be easily viewed as you soak in the wonder of this place. At the time of my visit I wasn't very interested in the history of this unique nature spot, but now I am a bit amazed that such a place has such an interesting past. The site has a 35 year nuclear power plant history that was closed in 1997. There is a historical marker regarding the plant that reads as follows: " Consumers Power Company (later Consumers Energy) opened the Big Rock Point nuclear power plant just west of here in 1962. It was the world’s first highpower density boiling water reactor and the fifth commercial nuclear power plant in the United States. The plant began as a research and development facility, with the first goal being to prove that nuclear power was economical. In addition to generating electricity, the reactor produced cobalt-60 that was used to treat an estimated 400 000 cancer patients. In 1991 the American Nuclear Society named the plant a Nuclear Historic Landmark. When it closed in 1997, Big Rock was the longest running nuclear plant in the United States.Consumers Energy later restored the site to a natural area. " Also, on the other side of this state historical marker is another marker which reads: " Big Rock Point is named for a large boulder used as a landmark by Native Americans. At least as early as the mid-nineteenth century, Odawa (Ottawa) Indians used Big Rock, which they called Kitcheossening, as a gathering place each spring. The Odawa summered at Waganaksing (the area between Harbor Springs and Cross Village) but dispersed into smaller groups and traveled during the winter. Each spring they returned to Big Rock, their canoes loaded with sugar, furs, deer skins, prepared venison, bear’s oil, and bear meat prepared in oil, deer tallow, and sometimes a lot of honey. From there they returned to Waganaksing by crossing the bay in wiigwaas jiimaan, birch bark canoes. In 1999 elders and youth from the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians recreated the crossing."
Uploaded
September 18th, 2017
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Viewed 343 Times - Last Visitor from Fairfield, CT on 04/23/2024 at 9:32 AM
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