People of the Dunes

Why here?

Evidence of eight separate occupations ranging in age from 100 B.C. to the late 1800s can be found at Whitefish Dunes State Park. A number of factors made this a particularly good location for past settlement. The seasonal abundance of lake sturgeon, walleyes, lake trout, and whitefish and the overall variety of fishing opportunities are believed to have been major reasons for repeated occupation. Cave Point, Whitefish Bay, and Clark Lake provided fishing diversity.

North Bay People

The earliest settlers were the North Bay people (100 B.C. - A.D. 300). Most of the pottery from this occupation comes from a single large vessel. Archaeologists value the information that pottery provides, since it changed more rapidly than stone tools, and better reflects social relationships. The North Bay pottery is thick, and tempered with coarse grit.

The territory of the North Bay people extends from Green Bay north to Rock Island. Within this area there were probably several kinship-based bands that interacted relative frequently, traveling around the peninsula by canoe. The people probably arrived at the site in the spring, in time for sturgeon spawning. They seem to have stayed at least through early summer. After this occupation the lake level rose and flooded a portion of the site.

Heins Creek People

The descendants of the North Bay group are known as the Heins Creek people. The name comes from a site at the mouth of Heins Creek, about 6 miles north of Whitefish Bay. The Heins Creek occupation dates to about A.D. 500-750, placing it in the early portion of the Lake Woodland period.

These people continued to occupy the shores of the Door Peninsula. Judging from the number and size of their sites, the population was larger than ever before. Fishing continued to be an important focus of their livelihood.

Late Woodland People:

The site contains evidence of two other Late Woodland occupations shortly after the Heins Creek component. These are distinguished by pottery decorated by pressing strands of cordage into the wet clay.

These two occupations date around A.D. 800-900. By this time the site was a substantial village, occupied from spring through late fall. Plant remains include seeds from blackberry or raspberry, plum or cherry, hazelnut, and bush honeysuckle.

Gill nets improved fall fishing for whitefish and lake trout. After the fishing season drew to a close, family groups are believed to have traveled to their winter hunting camps. Such camps could be in caves or rock shelters on the Green Bay side of the peninsula, or on the edges of wetlands.

The Oneota

Around A.D. 900 the Oneota people appeared on the Door peninsula. They were probably descended from local late Woodland people. There were two Oneota occupations. Between these occupations there was a second high water episode that flooded part of the site. A third flood came later, sometime in the historic period.

Unlike Woodland pottery, which is grid tempered, the majority of the Oneota pottery is shell tempered.

The Oneota practiced agriculture as well as fishing, hunting and gathering. Both corn and squash were cultivated in the vicinity of the site. Some of the corn may have been ground to flour and formed into dough for roasting in the ashes. The dig produced seven charred black lumps that contain corn flour. One came from a pit oven that was full of fire reddened dolomite cobbles. Such "Corn Cakes" have not been found in other archaeological sites in the Midwest.

The Oneota may have lived here year-round, or they might have left for the winter hunt like their Woodland predecessors.

History

The excavation produced scanty evidence of an early historic Indian occupation. By the early 1840s, John P. Clark and his brother Isaac S. Clark had begun a commercial fishing operation on Whitefish Bay. During the fishing season (August through mid-November), the Clarks employed 30 to 40 fishermen. Two or three hundred Potawatomis are reported to have assembled at the bay to manufacture fish oil from the fish waste. The Clarks worked the fishery until sometime in the 1880s. Square nails, green bottle glass, lead net sinkers, and other artifacts indicate activity of this era in the Whitefish Bay View site.

Significance

In recognition of the number of past occupations and excellent state of preservation, this site has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It holds great potential for future research.

Sketches by Frank Castro.