May 21, 2024: How to Find a French Fort and What to Do With It When You Do

By Michael Nassaney, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Western Michigan University

In 1997, a group of history enthusiasts in Niles, Michigan called Professor Michael Nassaney and asked him if he could help them find a lost French fort. He assembled a team of archaeologists, started the search, found the fort, and has been learning about 18th century Fort St. Joseph ever since. Come and hear how Professor Nassaney directed the Fort St. Joseph Archeological Project for over two decades and what he learned about one of the oldest European settlements in the western Great Lakes region.

Dr. Michael Nassaney is an archaeologist, author, editor, consultant, and Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Western Michigan University. From 1988-2020 he served as the principal investigator of the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project, an interdisciplinary program in community service that focuses on the site of Fort St. Joseph in Niles, Michigan. He directed the investigations of the Underground Railroad in Cass County in 2002. Nassaney has published numerous works on the archaeology of eastern North America, including The Archaeology of the North American Fur Trade (University Press of Florida, 2015) and Fort St. Joseph Revealed (University Press of Florida, 2019).