LA POINTE, Wis. — Mike Wiggins Jr. was not yet the site director when the stockade was removed from the Madeline Island Museum perimeter last year, but there could hardly be a more vivid symbol of the new era the attraction is entering as he begins his tenure.
"The fort walls weren't rooted in historical accuracy of fort walls having been there," said Wiggins. "More importantly, from an Ojibwe perspective, fort walls with their sharp, pointed log tops are a symbol of exclusion." In his capacity as then-chairman of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Wiggins participated in a September ceremony marking the stockade's removal and the dedication of a new historic marker.
No longer tribal chairman, Wiggins has now been appointed site director of the Madeline Island Museum. Wiggins has been in the job on an interim basis since January, with his permanent appointment in the role beginning July 1. (Previous site director Keldi Merton now works in tourism promotion for Bayfield County.
) "The first three months were pretty much dominated by conceptualization and then the development and construction of the 'Passages' exhibit," said Wiggins when I reached him by phone last week, having previously visited the museum to see the exhibit for myself. ADVERTISEMENT In addition to the absent stockade, which makes the museum much more visible to visitors arriving on the island by ferry, another powerful symbol of the museum's new approach is a dugout canoe dating back centuries. Lo.
