Whether your ancestors are Scandinavian or Ojibwe, life along the North Shore was never easy. In the late 1930's when the local economy shifted from extractive industry to tourism, the Anishinaabe people living at Grand Marais and Grand Portage adapted to the times, and women, in particular, relied on the creation of hand-made souvenirs to sell to the growing number of visitors to our area. Based on research and elder interviews in Walking the Old Road: A People's History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe (U of MN Press, 2019), local historian and author Staci Drouillard, will share stories, photos and analysis of the groundbreaking ways Anishinaabe people paved the way for modern makers and craftspeople on the North Shore.

Staci Lola Drouillard lives and works in her hometown of Grand Marais, MN. A Grand Portage tribal descendant, she began interviewing Chippewa City elders in 1987.