''Anne's Tablet'' is a 1916 Art Nouveau sculptural installation by

William Ordway Partridge William Ordway Partridge (April 11, 1861 – May 22, 1930) was an American sculptor, teacher and author. Among his best-known works are the Shakespeare Monument in Chicago, the equestrian statue of General Grant in Brooklyn, the ''Pietà'' at S ...

located within

Mackinac Island State Park Mackinac Island State Park is a state park located on Mackinac Island in the U.S. state of Michigan. A Lake Huron island, it is near the Straits of Mackinac. The island park encompasses , which is approximately 80% of the island's total are ...

adjacent to

Fort Mackinac Fort Mackinac ( ) is a former British and American military outpost garrisoned from the late 18th century to the late 19th century in the city of Mackinac Island, Michigan, on Mackinac Island. The British built the fort during the American Re ...

on Mackinac Island. Consisting of stone benches and a bronze plaque, the overlook was built as a memorial to local author

Constance Fenimore Woolson Constance Fenimore Woolson (March 5, 1840 – January 24, 1894) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. She was a grandniece of James Fenimore Cooper, and is best known for fictions about the Great Lakes region, the Americ ...

Background

Woolson (1840–1894), a member of a prominent

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

family of means, as a girl summered on Mackinac Island in a now-vanished building located directly below the overlook. The experience inspired her to become a professional writer, and in 1875 she published her first volume of short stories, ''Castle Nowhere: Lake-Country Sketches'', based on her experiences on Mackinac Island and in surrounding shorelines of the Great Lakes. The work was followed by Woolson's first novel, ''

Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

''. Also set on Mackinac Island, the work was published in 1880. Woolson's success at conveying the dilemmas faced by young Victorian-era women in a regionalist setting inspired further works from the increasingly successful author set in new homes in St. Augustine, Florida and in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

. Unfortunately, the popular writer's personal attachment to

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

was not fully reciprocated, and the depressed author fell from a Venetian window in 1894. As Woolson was buried in Italy, there was no location in the United States where her American-born readers could pay their respects. The ''Anne's Tablet'' installation was constructed as a gift from

Samuel Mather Samuel Livingston Mather (July 13, 1851 – October 18, 1931) was an American industrialist and philanthropist from Cleveland, Ohio. He co-founded Pickands Mather and Company, a shipping and iron mining company which dominated these two Great ...

, a successful iron ore mineowner and nephew of the writer.

References

{{Coord, 45.851981, N, 84.615409, W, type:landmark_region:US-MI, display=title Art Nouveau sculptures and memorials Art Nouveau architecture in the United States Mackinac Island State Park 1916 sculptures