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Bois Blanc Township is a civil township of Mackinac County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the population was 95. The township occupies Bois Blanc Island, as well as some smaller outlying islands within Lake Huron. The nearby Round Island is administered by the city of Mackinac Island. The township is served by Bois Blanc Pines School District, which is the smallest school district in terms of enrollment in the state of Michigan and among the nation. The district had an enrollment of four students for the 2021–22 school year. [edit] History
"Bois Blanc" is French for "white wood". The name is commonly thought to be a reference to either: (a) the paper birch, or more likely (b) the basswood, called "bois blanc" in other contexts. The basswood's white underbark was extensively used by Native Americans and French-speaking fur traders for cordage, including the sewing up of canoes and the manufacture of webbing for snowshoes. Bois Blanc was ceded by the local Anishinaabe (Chippewa) to the U.S. federal government with the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. After extensive use as a source of kilned lime and firewood for Mackinac Island and other local frontier settlements, Bois Blanc was settled in the late 1800s as a summer resort community. The Bois Blanc Light lighthouse (1867) survives on the northern shore of the island; it is no longer in service as a lighthouse and is not open to the public. [edit] Research Tips
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