Manistique is located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on Lake Michigan and is the county seat for Schoolcraft County. Schoolcraft County’s orginal inhabitants were members of the Chippewa Tribes. As a result of the War of 1812, the father of Antoine Ossawinamakee was given a portion of Schoolcraft County. Their primary settlement, consisting of 10 to 12 houses, was on Indian Lake which was three miles from Manistique. In 1833, Fr Frederick Baraga established his first Native American Mission at Indian Lake and converted all but one of the inhabitants to Catholicism. Father Baraga continued his missionary work but visited the Mission Church at Indian Lake frequently. In 1853, he became the bishop of Sault St. Marie.
Baraga Park on Indian Lake, where (then Fr.) Baraga celebrated his first Mass in what is now the Diocese of Marquette, having come across Lake Michigan in a canoe. (1833)