Dougherty Mission House / Rushmore House and Inn
Peter Dougherty arrived on Mackinac Island in 1838, planning to establish a Presbyterian mission to the Ojibwe and Odawa tribes in northern Michigan. He selected the Grand Traverse Bay area and settled in Elk Rapids. Soon after, he relocated to this area at the request of Chief Ahgosa. Dougherty sketched some of the region’s first maps in 1839-40. After his 1840 marriage to Maria Higgins, he and local Native Americans built this residence in 1842. In addition to delivering sermons and caring for the sick, Dougherty translated biblical lessons and scripture into the Native American language Anishinaabemowin, publishing them in 1844 and 1847. The house became known as the “Old Mission House” when the Dougherty family established a new mission at Omena in 1852.Solon Rushmore bought the Dougherty Mission House in 1861. Using profits from fruit crops, he remodeled parts of the building. After Solon’s death in 1870, his cousin Duranty Rushmore purchased the property. The region’s new resort industry, spurred by ship and rail transportation, led him to begin welcoming tourists into his home by 1876. Known as the Rushmore House, the inn could accommodate as many as thirty people. After Duranty died in 1894, his son William and daughter-in-law Minnie operated the inn until William’s 1916 death. Virginia Larson bought the property from the Rushmore family in 1961. In 2006 local citizens purchased the house and gifted it to Peninsula Township. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
Plaque via Michigan History Center