Treasures from the past come to life at this 18th-century fort and fur trading village, reconstructed based on historic maps and more than 60 years of archaeological excavations. As you walk through the site, you are stepping back in time to 1781, when local and global forces uprooted the community as soldiers and civilians relocated to Mackinac Island. After six decades as a thriving economic hub, Michilimackinac came to an end. Historical interpreters representing voyageurs, British soldiers, and French-Canadian merchant families are stationed throughout the fort to answer your questions and perform demonstrations. The past and present blur into a fascinating and unmatched experience at Colonial Michilimackinac. Watch smoke billow from cannons, mortars and muskets and see residents prepare food and tend the gardens. At one of the longest ongoing archaeological excavations in North America, archaeologists are on site throughout the summer, pulling history from the soil, bit by bit.