Les Cheneaux Historical Museum employees Pat Smith (left) and Mary Hill hold this year's prizes in the Historical Association's quilt raffle, inside the newly arranged Historical Museum in Cedarville. To the right of the women is a historic clothing display showing (from left) an antique sailor-style bathing suit, a dress and cape owned by Ida (nee Truscott) Hamel, and a wedding gown worn by Mrs. Amelia Wetherby. Mrs. Hamel was a former Chicago resident who moved with the Truscott family to Mackinac Island in 1867. She wore the dress in the photograph when she married in 1884, and on the boat that brought her to her new home in the Les Cheneaux Islands. Hamel family members said she wore the cape shown here when she met and shook hands with President Abraham Lincoln. Mrs. Wetherby was a Big LaSalle Island cottager and Niles resident, who wore the wedding gown pictured for her second marriage in about 1880. Volunteers and staff of the Les Cheneaux Historical Association spent the winter refreshing the interior of the museum in Cedarville, and displays have been changed and updated with artifacts that were previously in storage or are recent acquisitions.

A display of antique items used by local students and in local schools can now be seen at the museum. At the entrance is a wall of photographs of some of the community's founding residents and former stores and taverns. Portraits include Jacques Liberty, who farmed on Marquette Island, and "Barefoot" Dave Sugden, Arthur Johnson's log cabin gasoline station, and the Rendezvous Bar.

Beneath them in a glass case are items from the area's resort hotels, including dishes, a carved wooden candle holder, and light covers. A set of silverware from the former Cedar Inn is also on display.

Exhibits have been reorganized to lead visitors around the museum, starting at the Native American corner to the left of the entrance. The new display of the area's original residents touches on the land, people, government, shelter, transportation, and clothing of Native Americans. The display contains photographs of some of the area's oldest and best known Native American families. A basket display enclosed in a glass case features thick bark baskets, woven rush mats and napkin rings, and baskets featuring sweet grass. Baskets by the late Kathryn Osogwin, a Native American artisan who sold her baskets in the area more than 50 years ago, are also in the display, along with the advertisement for her business.

The display continues through Native American transportation, including traditional birch bark and dugout canoes. A clothing display showing styles worn by Midwestern and Eastern woodland tribes features pictures of four time periods, 1615, 1715, 1760, and 1780. Each picture shows how the clothing styles changed over time, and with the influence of European settlers. The end of the Native American display includes art, including items like ornate porcupine quill boxes, a beaded belt, and moccasins.

An exhibit recognizing the Les Cheneaux Breezes, an annual magazine published by Guy Hamel from 1933 to 1955, is in the center of the museum's large exhibit hall. The display includes original copies of the magazine, and some of the press plates used to print the art that appeared on its pages.

A school display with schoolbooks, a typewriter owned by a former teacher, a slate, and other items has been established in the log cabin part of the museum. Visitors can move clockwise from that display around to a living room display of home artifacts, including a family cradle and loom. A church exhibit follows, and contains antique items from local churches. An exhibit about the former Pleasant View Laundry, a business owned and operated by the Axel Shoberg family, features photographs and antique washing equipment from the business.

Other new exhibits include one about Les Cheneaux Islands cottagers, and a kitchen and dining room display, with rotating china place settings. Museum worker Mary Hill said the Historical Association would like to feature a different set of china every year. This year's featured set is a Currier and Ives pattern loaned by Cynthia Smith.

Familiar exhibits that remain the same include a geology of the Les Cheneaux Islands display, an Oliver Birge exhibit, and a logging exhibit that was raised higher for better visibility.

This year's raffle quilt is queensized, machine pieced, and handquilted in an "Up North Forest" theme, and can be seen at the museum. The quilt was stitched by at least 10 volunteers, who worked on the quilt through the winter. The quilt is the grand prize in the raffle, and two more tickets will be drawn to award second and third place prizes. Tickets are $2 each, and are sold at the Historical and Maritime museums, and local businesses, including First National Bank in Cedarville. Proceeds support Historical Association activities like concerts and the "Artist of the Week" summer artist series, which starts this week. Weekly artist talks and demonstrations are from noon to 3 p.m. on the lawn of the Historical Museum.

At least two music concerts have been scheduled for the Maritime Museum this summer, also starting this week. Griz and Friends will perform Ballads of the Great Lakes Wednesday, July 2, at 7 p.m., at the Maritime Museum on M-134 and Lake Street, just east of Cedarville. No Strings Attached, an all-female bluegrass band, will perform Thursday, July 10, at 7 p.m. at the Maritime Museum.

Other activities and events are listed here.

Les Cheneaux Historical Museum 2008 Schedule of Events:

•Wednesday, July 2: Ron Paquin on Native American crafts, noon to 3 p.m.

•Wednesday, July 9: Carol Hubbard on drawing, noon to 3 p.m.

•Tuesday, July 15: Moira "Pat" Wilson on Natural Foods: Poisons and Remedies, 7 p.m.

•Wednesday, July 16: Diana Windsor-Grenier on threedimensional sculpture, noon to 3 p.m.

•Wednesday, July 23: Annegret Goehring on scissors cutting, noon to 3 p.m.

•Sunday, July 27: Open House and Reception for Retired Curator Annegret Goehring, noon to 4 p.m.

•Wednesday, July 30: Margie Denoyer on basket making, noon to 3 p.m.

•Wednesday, August 6: Randy Dunn on welding and metalsmithing, noon to 3 p.m.

•Wednesday, August 13: Brent Heerspink and Julie Porter on pottery, noon to 3 p.m.

•Wednesday, August 20: Bette Smith on egg decorating, noon to 3 p.m.

•Sunday, August 31: Quilt Raffle Drawing, ticket will be drawn at 4 p.m.