Bonga Tavern

Jean and Jeanne Bonga, a Black couple, began Mackinac Island’s long tradition of hospitality by opening a tavern and inn on or near this site sometime in the late 1780s. The earliest documented history of the Bongas on the island is the baptism record for their daughter, Rosalie, on July 22, 1786. This record ties the Bongas to Captain Daniel Robertson, the commander of the British garrison on Mackinac Island from 1782 to June 15, 1787. It is unclear whether Robertson employed or enslaved the Bongas. Later accounts suggest Robertson had enslaved the Bongas and freed them upon his departure from the island. Jean and Jeanne Bonga were married in the Catholic church of Ste. Anne de Michilimackinac on June 24, 1794. The record of their marriage is the first direct reference of the Bongas being free residents of the island. Lieutenant Dwight Kelton’s annotated transcription of the Ste. Anne Church’s register in the 1882 edition of the Annals of Fort Mackinac states that the Bonga Tavern was “the first hotel on the Island of Mackinac.” Jean and Jeanne Bonga operated the tavern and inn at least until Jean’s death on January 20, 1795. He was buried in the island’s Catholic cemetery two days later. Several of the couple’s children and grandchildren maintained their connection to Mackinac Island and were involved in the Great Lakes fur trade throughout the 19th century. The Bongas’ grandson George Bonga worked as a voyageur, interpreter, and merchant for an Anishnaabek com-munity in Minnesota into which he had married. The site of Jean and Jeanne’s tavern was purchased by Henry Overall in 1859. He operated a saloon and billiard hall there into the 1890s.