CADILLAC TO TRAVERSE CITY
HISTORIC OLD INDIAN TRAIL
A path through time — honoring the land, the people, and the history that shaped this region.
A Walk Through History
The Old Indian Trail spans from Cadillac to Traverse City established sometime in the 1200’s. Today this tour of our region is made possible by Frank Ettawageshik & the Wexford County Historical Society.
For several centuries, Odawa People have been on these shores and in the woods and hills of this land. We are living amid the places from which spring the stories of our world, ourselves, our families and our tribal nation. The original tribal trails throughout Michigan are a walk thru history. Click on the links below to learn more.
QUICK STATS
MILES OF TRAIL
TRAIL MARKERS
YEARS OF HISTORY
Ancient Pathways and Indigenous Roots
For centuries, the Odawa people have lived on the shores, in the forests, and among the hills of this region. The land is rich with stories of their families, culture, and tribal nation. Long before modern roads, Native trails crossed Michigan, used by the Anishnaabe people as early as the 1200s. These people formed the Three Fires Confederacy, made up of the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Tribes. Some historical records suggest the Cadillac–Traverse City Old Indian Trail may have started as early as 700 BC.
Before the Anishnaabe, the Hopewell civilization — also known as Adena in some areas — lived in the Midwest, including parts of Michigan. This prehistoric culture, dating back to 600 BC, is known for large burial mounds and vast trade networks. Around Cadillac, signs of Hopewell mounds can be found, especially near the Cadillac Country Club. Artifacts suggest people camped between Lake Mitchell and Lake Cadillac for hundreds of years, possibly long before recorded or oral histories began.
CONSIDERATIONS WHILE TRAVELING THE ROUTE
Many of these markers are on private property and we ask that you respect the owners who maintain the property.
Rediscovery and Trail Preservation
The trail’s ancient past continued to spark curiosity into modern times. In the late 1800s, Milo Petoskey Crosby became fascinated by the Old Indian Trail after moving to Wexford County. In his retirement during the early 1900s, he used historical documents to walk and map the trail himself. In the 1940s, he placed 14 stone markers along it, starting at Lake Mitchell and ending at the Manistee River near Sherman. For years, only a few historians and local descendants visited the trail.
Later, Crosby’s work was continued by historian James Comp and retired teacher Ed Babcock, who added five more markers. Finally, in 1987, former Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Chairman Frank Ettawagheshik and the Grand Traverse Sesquicentennial group completed the trail. After years of planning and research, they installed markers 20 through 33, bringing the trail all the way to West End Beach on Grand Traverse Bay.
REMEMBERING THE ORIGINAL STEWARDS OF THESE LANDS
We acknowledge that the greater Cadillac area is the ancestral land of the Anishinaabek, including the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Bode’wadmi peoples. We honor their history, resilience, and ongoing connection to this land.