Father Baraga's Cross Historical Marker — Attraction in Schroeder Township

We went on a beautiful fall day and it was a great place to take a short hike to the mouth of the Cross River and over some classic Lake Superior rocks. I highly recommend it! Northern Minnesota has a history of (mostly French) Catholic missions from the 1600s-1800s that it shares with the rest of the Great Lakes region and into Quebec and New England, but there aren’t a lot of old French sites still accessible in Minnesota. This site is connected with that history. It is the place where a priest and an Ojibwe guide survived after trying to cross from Madeline Island to Grand Marais in a canoe during a storm to care for sick Ojibwe there. Instead of capsizing, they got blown into the shallow mouth of this river and erected a wooden cross, which has now been replaced with the stone memorial. Father Baraga spent over 60 years among the Ojibwe and later became the bishop of Sault Sainte Marie in what is now the diocese of Marquette. His cause for canonization as a saint is currently being considered by the Vatican. Just a neat tidbit from Minnesota’s history! P.S. There is a cute bakery nearby where you can get coffee, pastries, and...

A beautiful place to worship God! There’s a plaque at the foot of the cross thanks to the nearby Knights of Columbus that tells the story of Father Baraga! However, there is very little parking on sight. It’s hard for many people to gather around the cross due to the lack of even terrain. There’s a porta potty on site, but no picnic tables or benches. There’s a nice beach, but no lifeguard on duty. There’s abandoned cabins nearby that might be interesting for those who like to see old dwellings. Not an ideal place for someone who uses a...

Was a nice little visit. Should be more of a display, given the scope of what this man did, but should any of us leave this earth with even that much of a display we should consider ourselves a success.

Nice parking, it's back behind a neighborhood with some rotted out old cabins that intrigued my kid more than the cross itself, and there is a little beach on the other side of the water from the cross, saw some picnicers, a fly fisher...nice area. Nice stop along...