Bois Blanc Island (Ontario)

Bois Blanc Island, Ontario Boblo Island
Island
Shore of Bois Blanc Island
Coordinates (Dance hall): 42°05′44″N 83°07′14″W / 42.09556°N 83.12056°W / 42.09556; -83.12056Coordinates: 42°05′44″N 83°07′14″W / 42.09556°N 83.12056°W / 42.09556; -83.12056
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
County	Essex
Waterway	Detroit River
Town	Amherstburg
Area
• Total	0.425 sq mi (1.10 km2)
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
272 acres (110 ha) = 0.425 sq mi (1.10 km2)

Bois Blanc Island, commonly called Boblo Island, is an island in the Detroit River on the Canadian side of the border and is part of Amherstburg, Ontario. The island is about 2.5 miles (4 km) long, 0.5 mile (0.8 km) wide and 272 acres (110 ha) in size.

The main northbound shipping channel of the Detroit River currently lies between Bois Blanc Island and the Amherstburg mainland. A stone lighthouse was built in 1836 on the southern tip of Boblo island which marks the historical beginning of the Detroit River navigation channel for ships traveling upriver from Lake Erie in more modern times.

Bois Blanc means "White Woods," a name derived from the many birch and beech trees in the area. "Boblo" is an English corruption of the French pronunciation of the name. Several islands with the same name dot the Great Lakes, and nearly all are known as "Boblo" or "Bob-lo" by the local populations.

The island had strategic importance when Fort Amherstburg (now Fort Malden) was built in 1796 to guard passage along the Detroit River after Detroit was turned over to the Americans. Guns from the fort could reach the island across the navigable waters and hence secured the river.

Boblo island has a very rich history. Its association with the ancient Sauk Trail, the earliest European reference made about the island in 1718, which describes 70 First Nation families peacefully farming the fertile land, later it became the place where French Catholic had a mission for the Wyandot (Wendat) First Nation (also known as "the Huron Indians") in the 18th Century, the location of the site of the headquarters for the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh ("Shooting Star") the leader of a large tribal confederacy (known as Tecumseh's Confederacy), during the War of 1812, and it was the location of the invasion point for 60 Canadian "Patriots" on January 8, 1838 during the Upper Canada Rebellion and also served as the stepping stone for numerous individuals on the Underground Railroad to Canada. One estimate puts 30,000 people as having had crossed over between 1834 and 1860.