This cache is part of the Emmet County History Quest Geo-Trail. When discovering the historic places in Emmet County as you travel from cache to cache, you will need to answer a specific question on your passport. Information and the passport can be downloaded from the Emmet County web site http://www.emmetcounty.org/geocache/
Once you have completed 20 of the caches in this tour, take your passport to Emmet County Building, Suite 178 or mail the passport to Beth Piehl, Emmet County Building, Suite 178, 200 Division St., Petoskey, MI 49770 to receive a collectable souvenir tag for this series.
Solanus Mission Church, sits on the shores of Little Traverse Bay. Established by Father Baraga (“the snowshoe priest”) this church has seen many sunsets since 1859. It remains a sacred burial ground for Indian remains. Mass is offered once a year on the feast day of Saint Francis Solanus and Saint Kateri Teckakwitha, an Algonquin-Mohawk who was canonized in 2012. Symbolic crosses mark the area of the Native American ancestors buried on the property.
It is the oldest building still standing in Northern Lower Peninsula. Today, the “Little Indian Church” appears on the state of Michigan’s Register of Historic Places and also on the National Register of Historic Places.