Fort Drummond

Forced by the Treaty of Ghent to evacuate the fort they had captured on Mackinac Island during the War of 1812, the British selected this island as an alternate military post. The stronghold was close to the traditional Indian gathering point at the Straits of Mackinac in order to sustain English control of the Indians and the Upper Great Lakes fur trade. Built by Colonel Robert McDonall and his men, Fort Drummond and the nearby village at Collier’s Harbor were maintained for more than a decade. The British abandoned their stronghold in 1828 six years after Drummond Island was ruled United States territory. Now summer cottages occupy this rocky countryside and only a few ruined chimneys survive as reminders of the conflict between British and American sovereignty in the Old Northwest.