Charlotte F. Otten and her family spent many summers in Copper Harbor, Michigan where she hiked trails to Lake Superior, picked blueberries in a secluded bay, fished for brook trout in Garden Brook and explored the Keweenaw Peninsula. There she looked at abandon copper mines, read gravestones in cemeteries, visited Father Baraga's church in Eagle Harbor, Michigan and spent time at Fort Wilkins. The reconstruction of Fort Wilkins is open to visitors -- and she visited it often.

Engaged in the study of the fascinating history of Fort Wilkins and Copper Harbor, she began to think of writing a book on living in the Fort in 1844-1845. She discovered which soldiers had been sent there, which miners had come from far away places to dig for copper, which Native Americans lived in the territory, and the remarkable itinerary of the "Snowshoe Priest", Father Baraga. From that interest sprang Home in a Wilderness Fort, Copper Harbor, 1844.

Charlotte Otten is author of January Rides the Wind, and is a native of Grand Rapids, Michigan She is a retired Professor of English at Calvin College.

At Home in a Wilderness Fort: Fort Wilkins 1844
by Charlotte F. Otten
Arbutus Press, 2006
ISBN: 0-9766104-5-0