Native American Ceremony Prepares Apple Island for Archaeological Dig

Students will spend the next three weeks gathering evidence to support putting the property owned by West Bloomfield Public Schools on state and national historic registers.

A group of students from Western Michigan University will spend the next three weeks looking for evidence that will earn Apple Island, owned by West Bloomfield Public Schools, a place on the Michigan State Historic Site and National Register of Historic Places. But before they got started, members of the Milford-based Cedar Water Healing Lodge performed Native American rituals to offer them protection and blessing.  Gayle Joseph, whose Native American name is Giizhik Kwe or "Cedar Woman", said the group lit a sacred fire and hung colors "so the ancestors will look fondly on the island, and so the young archaeologists will be protected." The Hartland resident also spoke with students about "how to take care of Mother Earth while they're …

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Archaeological Dig Welcome Dinner Tuesday

Kick off the Greater West Bloomfield Historical Society and Western Michigan University's Apple Island archaeological dig by attending an informal opening celebration.

On the Agenda: Apple Island Dig, West Bloomfield Schools Millage Proposal

The West Bloomfield School Board will consider placing a building site and sinking fund millage proposal on the ballot in 2013 or 2014.

Edited: 1:55 p.m., Dec. 17 to remove information regarding building and site sinking fund The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. Monday at West Bloomfield High School. Follow along on Twitter at @WBloomfldPatch or Facebook at West Bloomfield Patch. View the proceedings by tuning in to Civic Center TV or watch the live stream online. View the complete agenda packet on Broadbook. The board will consider a resolution which would allow the Greater West Bloomfield Historical Society (GWBHS) to apply for state and national historic designation for Apple Island, the 35-acre island in Orchard Lake owned by the district since 1970. The board will also consider a resolution which would allow Western Michigan University students to conduct an …

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Apple Island on the State and National Register of Historic Places?

It could happen, according to Kalamazoo-based archaeologist David Brose, who seeks permission from West Bloomfield Schools to excavate.

A formal dig of Apple Island on Orchard Lake in 2008 uncovered a lot for West Bloomfield School District students to learn. A new project, proposed by the Greater West Bloomfield Historical Society, could uncover all that and "beyond considerable prestige" if successful. The island, which has been owned by the district since 1970, was suggested as a possible nominee to the Michigan state and National Register of Historic Places by Kalamazoo-based archaeologist David Brose during a presentation at Monday night's school board meeting. He said that working with the Western Michigan University Department of Anthropology, he hopes to offer an advanced archaeology course in May 2013 on the island with permission and help from the district in the…

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Timothy Rath

5:31 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Hi, folks ... (directly addressing neither Christy or Louise, rather the general audience) ... I think we may have upwards of a baker's dozen articles on Patch in which the comment thread revolves around the former school board candidate-turned elected member Julie Beaty. There, we should find more than enough to discuss about her campaigns and plenty more. Let's please try to get this comment …   more ›

Viewfinder: Second-Graders Visit Apple Island

Kelly Lekas and her class of second-graders from Scotch Elementary School explored Apple Island and the Orchard Lake Museum on Tuesday.

It's an annual adventure for students from in and around the West Bloomfield School District, and it's perhaps the best way to understand how the area came to be what it is today. Kelly Lekas' second-grade class at Scotch Elementary School visited the Orchard Lake Museum and Apple Island in Orchard Lake on Tuesday, the first of a series of scheduled trips with docents to see such natural features as unusually large hardwood trees, man-made wells, cisterns and foundations from the 1800s and early 1900s.

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