Most days, Craig Wilson’s mornings are pretty typical. As the Curator of History for Mackinac State Historic Parks, getting dressed for work usually means putting on a button-down shirt and tie. But, one day a week, his uniform is that of an 18th-century British soldier: a bright red coat with white leather straps that form an X across his chest, a black tricorn hat and a short land pattern musket commonly known as “Brown Bess.”
Mackinaw City’s Colonial Michilimackinac dates back to 1715 when it was constructed by French soldiers. Today, the fort relies on interpreters like Wilson to help visitors engage with and understand its vast history. Originally from the Detroit area, Wilson’s background is in anthropology and archeology. While in undergrad and graduate school, he spent time working as a seasonal interpreter at both Fort Mackinac and Fort Michilimackinac.
Wilson’s morning routine includes starting fires for cooking demonstrations, setting up artillery pieces and running up the flag—the British flag. Being an interpreter may seem like an unusual vocational choice, but to Wilson, his job isn’t much different from yours. “This all boils down to being an effective communicator,” he says. “Every job has that to some degree. I get the opportunity to share what I find with all sorts of people from all over the world, and that’s fun.”
Interpreters at Colonial Michilimackinac portray the year 1776, which if you remember from history class is the year of America’s Declaration of Independence from Britain. While the early rumblings of the Revolutionary War sounded in the east, the French and British frontier, including Michilimackinac, had just as much going on. “When you hear ‘interpreter,’ what do you think?” asks Wilson. “Someone who’s going to translate a foreign language. If you think of the past as a foreign country, then we are translators.”
He translates the story of the fort and its inhabitants through his daily duties. He knows how to work an 18th-century blacksmith’s forge and how to properly load and fire the aforementioned Brown Bess and even an 18th-century field cannon. He’s learned these skills on the job, through the fort’s archeology program and from extensive research done in the off season—costumed interpreters at Colonial Michilimackinac are not actors, they’re historians and scientists.
“None of this is static. We are always adding things,” Wilson says. This season, a new program focuses on women’s roles at the fort, and a recently renovated room in the soldiers’ barracks allows visitors to touch and experience artifacts themselves. In another exhibit, visitors get to sample tea. “It’s a window into a much larger slice of British culture,” Wilson says. “We’re talking about politics, global economics, social structure, gender roles—all based on a little cup of tea.”
For his part, Wilson hopes to help incite curiosity in visitors so they might better engage with and understand the world around them. “There were French people here. There were British people here. There are still native people here. Those cultural legacies remain in the Straits of Mackinac. And it’s because of what happened here 250 years ago.”
