Fort Michilimackinac Fort Michilimackinac was an 18th - century French , and later British , fort and trading post in the Great Lakes of North America . Built around 1715 , and abandoned in 1783 , it was located along the southern shore of the strategic Straits of Mackinac connecting Lake Huron and Lake Michigan , at the northern tip of the lower peninsula of the present - day state of Michigan in the United States . The site of the fort in present - day Mackinaw City is a National Historic Landmark and is now preserved as an open - air historical museum . History . The primary purpose of the fort was not military , but rather as a link in the French trading post system that stretched from the Mississippi River through the Illinois Country to the St . Lawrence River . The fort served as a supply depot for traders in the western Great Lakes . The French had first established a presence in the Straits of Mackinac in 1671 when Father Marquette established the Jesuit St . Ignace Mission at present - day St . Ignace . In 1683 , they augmented the mission with Fort de Buade . In 1688 they established a mission at Sault Ste . Marie . In 1701 , Sieur de Cadillac moved the French garrison to Fort Detroit and closed the mission . By 1715 , however , the French built Fort Michilimackinac to re - establish a presence along the Straits of Mackinac , with several modifications and expansions to the palisade walls over the decades . The French relinquished the fort , along with their territory in Canada , to the British in 1761 following their loss in the French and Indian War . Although the British continued to operate the fort as a major trading post , French civilians were allowed to live their normal lives with French traditions and to worship at St . Anne ' s Catholic Church . Other civilian residents during the British military occupation included " métis " ( French - Ojibwe ) and British fur traders , some of which resided within the fort in the southeastern row house . The Ojibwe in the region resented British policies as harsh . On June 2 , 1763 , as part of the larger movement known as Pontiac ' s Rebellion , a group of Ojibwe staged a game of " baaga ' adowe " ( a forerunner of modern lacrosse ) outside the fort as a ruse to gain entrance . After gaining entrance to the fort , they killed most of the British inhabitants and held the fort for a year before the British retook it with the provision to offer more and better gifts to the native inhabitants of the area . The British eventually deemed the wooden fort on the mainland too vulnerable to attack , and in 1781 they built Fort Mackinac , a limestone fort on nearby Mackinac Island . The buildings were dismantled and moved piece by piece over water in the summer and ice in winter to the island over the course of two years . Patrick Sinclair , the lieutenant governor of Michilimackinac , ordered the remains of Fort Michilimackinac destroyed after the move . Today . The fort grounds were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 . It is a popular tourist attraction as part of Colonial Michilimackinac State Park in Mackinaw City , a major section of the Mackinac State Historic Parks . Interpreters , both paid and volunteer , help bring the history to life , with music , live demonstrations and reenactments , including musket and cannon firing demonstrations . The site has numerous reconstructed historical wooden structures . It is considered one of the most extensively excavated early French archaeological sites in the United States . The fort grounds also contain the foot of the Mackinac Bridge , Old Mackinac Point Light , which is an 1892 lighthouse , and a day - use park with a view of the Mackinac Bridge and Mackinac Island .