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- Hi, everyone, and welcome back to a brand-new episode of "Destination Michigan" with me, your brand-new host, Stefanie Mills.

Many of you know I'm no stranger to the show, and I look forward to continuing to share our travels around this great state with you all.

Tonight we begin with a trip back in time, where the past paved the way to the present.

We'll take you to Cass County and to one home that played a vital role in guiding slaves to safety along the Underground Railroad.

Next, harvesting wild rice, known as manoomin, holds deep cultural significance for indigenous communities, especially those here in the Great Lakes Region.

The act of gathering manoomin is intertwined with intricate traditions passed down through generations.

We'll take a closer look at this shared celebration.

Then we head north, like Upper Peninsula north, and go island-hopping, kind of.

Adam takes us to the Les Cheneaux Islands in the Eastern UP to learn more about the history and lifestyle of the area.

And then from the up to the UP to the LP, WACO Kitchen in Battle Creek is a feast for eyes and taste buds, how their culinary creations are anything but plain among the planes.

(upbeat music) On an unassuming intersection just outside the city of Vandalia sits a historic home.

The structure has long been a landmark of the Victorian architecture of Southwestern Michigan popularized by the Quakers who settled the region in the 1800s.

We go inside the Bonine House and learn about the Underground Railroad.

- The Underground Railroad started here in Cassopolis in the 1840s, as soon as Quakers arrived and freedom-seekers were running this way.

And we're actually a junction on the Underground Railroad.

There are two lines that run.

One line runs from the Illinois line, and one runs from the, it's called the Quaker Line, and it runs from Kentucky into Ohio, into Indiana and into Michigan.

It is said that 1,500 freedom-seekers came through this area on their way to freedom.

- [Stefanie] As we've learned throughout history, the Underground Railroad was neither a railroad or underground.

It was a network of people working together helping enslaved men, women, and children escape slavery and gain their freedom by traveling north.

- We're sitting in the James E. Bonine and Sarah Bogue home.

They were station masters on Underground Railroad, and he did not help freedom-seekers in this house here.

They were across the street in the carriage house on the third floor.

That's where he gave food, shelter, and clothing to freedom-seekers before they would go on to their next station.

- When I'm here at the Bonine House, I feel like I can just feel the presence of James and Sarah and all of the people that were here with them.

If I go in the carriage house, there's a real feeling in the carriage house of being in a place of importance, modest and humble and so big, (laughs) at the same time, so important.

- [Stefanie] Down the street from the Bonine House is the Bogue Home, a well-known station along the Underground Railroad.

Station Masters Steven and Hannah Bogue sheltered freedom-seekers here in their attic.

It's just one of the places visitors can stop to come up close with the past.

Throughout Cass County, there are a total of 20 sites that are part of a driving tour that tells the story of the Underground Railroad in the area.

Visitors can see, stand, and experience the places the brave men, women, and children once traveled.

The tour is part of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom and offers an almost hands-on approach to learning the history, a history the community is now proud to share.

- So there was a history of not talking about it, and that history of not talking and not speaking about it carried over into following generations.

I'm happy that now we have the ability and the freedom to speak about our very own history.

And when we do that, you know, it shines a light on it, and it helps people understand it because when you understand your history, you might be able to help direct the future.

- There is something special about our area and our history because of the cooperation of all of the various factions, the free Blacks, the freedom-seekers, and the Quakers coming together and showing each other that, well, showing each other the best of humanity.

- [Stefanie] Here in Cass County, the story of the Kentucky raid of 1847 demonstrates just how the community came to together.

On the night of August 20th, 13 slave-catchers from Kentucky came into the county to hunt fugitive slaves, as they were called at the time, who were in the area.

Breaking into small groups, the Kentuckians captured nine of the freedom-seekers as they moved from farm to farm.

Word of the kidnapping quickly spread.

Soon the 13 slave-catchers were surrounded by an estimated group of 300 people, including white and Black abolitionists and Quakers.

Outnumbered and believing the law was on their side, the Kentuckians agreed to stand trial in Cassopolis.

The case was tried by Ebenezer McIlvain, a Berrien County commissioner and a conductor on the Underground Railroad.

Citing the fact that the Kentuckians did not have the right paperwork, the nine captives were released and continued their journey to freedom with 34 others.

The slave-catchers returned home empty-handed.

This story and others are being preserved and shared by the dedicated men and women of the Underground Railroad Society of Cass County.

- The history of the Underground Railroad was being lost.

There wasn't anybody here telling the story.

They came in, and they helped create this place where people could get the information of their family history that was being lost.

- Slavery and the story is difficult.

It's still an excitement, a moment of pride for people and excitement to learn about this huge history right here and also be in the buildings where these things happened.

- It's important history because it tells how a diverse community can come together and live and respect each other.

And so I think that's one of the great legacies of the Underground Railroad here in Cass County.

- Now, many towns throughout our state played a role in the Underground Railroad, with Detroit being the last stop before freedom in Canada.

On the Detroit River stands the International Memorial to the Underground Railroad.

Well, in the heart of the Native American community, manoomin, or wild rice, holds a historical, spiritual, and cultural significance.

It serves as a bridge connecting generations and is a source of sustenance that has nourished both the stomach and heart for thousands of years.

Over a long summer weekend, a group of folks came together to participate in wild rice camp, where campers crafted rice and tools and gained perspective on a centuries-old harvesting tradition.

(gentle music) - Wild rice, as I've been taught, is extremely important to us as Anishinaabe people because it was in our original stories, and it's how we got to where we are.

This area is the place where the food grows on water, and in our stories, we were told we would need to move to the place where the food grows on water, and that's here, and that's wild rice.

So it's not only part of our story and how we got here, but it's also part of our ceremony.

It's nutrition.

It's medicine.

It is a part of everyday life.

For us as well, it's something that has to be done with community.

You can't really do it yourself.

And that's one of the biggest things for me, is to bring people together.

- [Reporter] Labor Day weekend often includes celebrating with family, friends, food, and community.

That's exactly what was happening this year in Coleman and Tawas Lake with a group of campers who have arrived with a specific goal in mind, to better understand all the aspects of manoomin, or wild rice.

One of the experts sharing decades of knowledge and leading campers on their journey is Roger LaBine.

- My parents and grandparents gave me probably 50% of the knowledge that I have 'cause they had shared with me.

There were a lot of people that that helped me with the stories and the teachings and the processes and how we need to live in balance with Mother Earth and how we now are that spokesperson for all of these things.

- Roger is amazing, an amazing teacher, and he's so knowledgeable.

And he teaches that, the relationship, you know, the sacredness of it and the honoring it, the reciprocity, sustainability.

I mean, that's all on the table.

Was happy to be hosting and be a part of it.

- [Reporter] Roger is fluent in the tradition and construction of ricing sticks and push-poles.

These are the tools campers will make and take with them out on the water to harvest wild rice.

Harvesters use canoes to travel in pairs out on the water.

The ricing sticks are used to gently bring rice into the canoe, and push-poles are used to carefully navigate through the water without damaging the rice.

- These ricing sticks were handed down to me.

These are the ricing sticks that my grandmother used.

I want you to notice is how light they are.

My conservation code at home dictates that my ricing sticks cannot be longer than 36 inches and weigh more than one pound.

First of all, we smudged everybody, and I told 'em, I said, "If you need to, go across that road over there and leave all that negativity over there," I says, "because we want you to have a pure heart.

We want to have you be clean."

And as you start making these, these ricing sticks, you only do good thoughts.

(instructor chattering) I also informed them that the material that we were gonna make these sticks out of was (speaks in foreign language), which is that cedar, which is one of the four medicines.

- [Instructor] That's perfect.

- It's not a tool to go in there thrashing.

If you have something really heavy, and you're going in there with a hard wood, you're going in there, it's gonna hurt the rice.

And we don't wanna be disrespectful in that way, but we also don't want unripe rice.

And we don't wanna go in there and try to take everything because that rice is not just for us.

That rice is for the muskrat and the birds and, you know, the other geese and the fish even that makes their home down there.

So that rice is for everybody.

I think one of the things with all of the processing of rice, whether it's the making of the sticks or being out in the canoes, it's having this certain flow about you.

You know, so even when you're doing that drawknife, you're moving, and it's like you're in the canoe, right?

So that forever flowing like water I think carries throughout the entire process and getting people to kind of think that way instead of, "I need to get this done," or, "I need to pull this, this way."

Just flow with it.

Just be a part of it.

And once you get people into the woodworking, they have the right tools, they start to get the hang of it.

They are different for everybody because they fit you.

They're your tools, right?

And I think a lot of people come in going, "Well, what are they?

What are they supposed to be?"

Nothing.

(laughs) You know, they're not supposed to be anything.

They're what you need and what you want to make them out to be.

- [Reporter] After the first two days of wild rice camp have concluded, campers have constructed the required tools they'll physically need and develop a thoughtful understanding of how to approach the rice.

- Before we went out into the rice bed again, we took some time to do some prayers and to do an ask and put down an offering and say, "Is it okay if we come out today?"

'Cause again, it's always gently asking and moving in this world 'cause we are all connected to one another.

So we did that before we ever even went out, and that ceremony is important.

Once they did that, then they were able to kind of go out and test out, how do these work now?

(laughs) Like what do I do with this now?

And it's a little tricky using a push-pole for the first time if you haven't done it, and it's easier to go forward and get away and into the bed, but it's harder coming back and trying to understand how they would move in it, how they would swim through that wild rice.

And we were able to collect a little bit.

(harvester sings in foreign language) Ricing is a very sacred and cherished event for me.

It's something where I connect into myself and connect into the water and just all of life.

So every time I go out there, you know, I make sure I put those offerings down.

I make sure I do that gentle ask and then listen, and I sing, and I really come back to myself every time I go out into a rice bed.

And to be honest with you, I love to stand in the canoe.

(laughs) It's one of my favorite things.

Even as a kid, I just thought, "I don't think I'm supposed to sit in here."

I had the hardest time sitting in a canoe.

And so for me, that standing on the water and moving through just so gently is me and is that great connection to all things.

And it always makes me feel better when I leave the bed.

Like I've just been hugged by all of creation, and they said, "We love you, kid."

(laughs) And then send me on my way.

- [Reporter] After a successful day on the water, campers return to home base, where they'll process the rice.

- What you wanna do is let it air dry because, actually, you're gonna be changing that rice from a medicine to a food.

And you do that process by putting it to fire.

- And if you dry it for about three days or so, then you're gonna parch it.

And that parching it is a gentle kind of swoop that makes another lovely sound, and it takes that kind of dried rice and warms it slowly or toasts it slowly as it goes around that parching pan.

And if you get a nice crisp toast on it that's not burnt, that's not the popped rice, it starts to smell real sweet.

It smells like sweet grass.

And those tails kind of burn away, and then it's ready to be danced on because the hulls are now stiff or hardened.

It's a hard kind of hull.

And when the hull is hard, the rice just twirls right out of it.

- I needed to take a lot of weight off my foot or feet, both of them.

I say foot because when you're dancing on it, you put all your weight on one foot.

- You're trying to be gentle with the rice.

And we'll make a pit that has two stabilizing poles that come off of it that I use to kind of prop myself up to get my weight off of it.

That helps me to not only be present with the rice, but to be able to be present within myself, and what pressure am I exerting on the world?

How am I stepping down?

You know, what am I doing?

And then I kind of, you know, it's kinda like the twist, you know?

(laughs) It's very similar to that, but one at a time just gently scooping, and I end up using my feet like my hands, like I would cradle a baby just real gentle.

- [Reporter] At the end of the weekend, campers leave with ricing tools, manoomin, and so much more.

- The more people learn the history of it, the relationship, and the love of it, teaching those things like that, I think that would, that's pivotal, the education process.

And then that means for indigenous and non-indigenous.

All of us need to learn that relationship and that love and the how, you know, to do that.

- Everybody comes at a different level of understanding.

They come at a different way of being.

And for us, the reason we teach to anyone who wants to learn is because we feel that if we can share this respect and love, that people will just heal and share respect and love.

And that's the world we wanna live in.

- Manoomin grows best in shallow water areas with soft, mucky bottoms, with a slight water current.

Well, we're constantly on the hunt for the next destination to visit and explore.

A chance encounter at one of Adam's favorite hangouts led him to hit the road and head north, making sure that after he crossed the bridge, he made the right turn.

Our next story takes us to the Les Cheneaux Islands in the Eastern UP.

- [Adam] I heard the saying once no one travels to the Upper Peninsula by accident, and it's true.

Every time I cross the bridge, there is a plan in place and a destination to head to.

On this trip, I was encouraged to make the right turn and head east.

As I pulled into the Les Cheneaux Islands, I was quick to recognize the area's like stepping straight into a postcard.

(camera shutter clicks) - Everybody, when they come across the Mackinac, they either go straight north up to Sault Saint Marie and then maybe onto Canada, or they go west.

Very few people ever come to the Eastern UP.

- If you've ever been to the UP, you know that it's a special place.

And the Les Cheneaux Islands, it's a little known secret that it's a special place within a special place.

- So the Les Cheneaux Islands are consisted of 36 islands here in the Eastern UP on Lake Huron with the towns of Cedarville and Hessel.

- We have the best water, the clearest water.

It's not that we don't have storms or anything, but we have perfect water.

We've got a large population of people that own wooden boats, so that's very unique to this area.

- [Adam] Wooden boats and the Les Cheneaux Islands are synonymous.

Each August, hundreds of these beautiful boats converge on the Hessel Harbor for the Antique Wooden Boat Show.

The festival celebrates the rich tradition of boat-building and repair.

A visit to the Maritime Museum gives a glimpse into just how important boating has been to the islands.

Many of the boats in their collection were built right down the road, and others came to the area but never left.

- The boat that's behind us, which is a dinghy that was made in 1929 in Scotland, and it was brought here for the family to show their children how to sail.

And we're very fortunate to have that.

We now have our first Chris-Craft.

We have a number of boats that they're the only ones still in existence.

When visitors come, we can show them the history of the islands.

- I think the Les Cheneaux area offers a lot to a lot of different people.

And whether that's a tourist wanting to come explore somewhere new, we have all these beautiful protected channels and islands that are so easy to boat through, but there's plenty of camping and hiking, things like that that are great to check out.

- [Adam] Katie and her husband Peter help run the Les Cheneaux Distillers.

What started as an idea shared at a bonfire to make booze has quickly grown to include two restaurants serving craft cocktails and beer, as well as offering a full menu.

- It is amazing how people come from an hour, two hours away just to come check us out.

And so then therefore that brings their attention to the entire area, which is really, really cool.

We're all born and raised here and really love this area, so it's nice to be able to contribute to the area in that way.

(camera shutter clicks) - [Adam] If the beautiful water and scenery, the rich heritage of wooden boats, or even a craft cocktail are not enough to consider making that right turn after the bridge, maybe a one-of-a-kind culinary experience will.

- We're a farm-to-table culinary school in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Our students go to school from September to May, and then in June, we open up as a restaurant, and those students are hired back on to work their internship, which is cooking for the restaurant.

- We love UPer food, we love pasties, and we love perch sandwiches and all that kind of stuff.

And we've even been known to cook 'em once in a while.

But really, we explore the whole globe as far as cuisines, and we like to take food that we source right here in Northern Michigan and create all sorts of dishes from cultures all around the world.

You may taste Michigan, but the recipes come from all over.

There's very few restaurants that are serving produce and meats that were raised here in the UP.

And a lot of our farmers do a really good job and produce high-quality food.

And our students are super passionate.

So we're fortunate enough to have every single person in this building care super dearly about your experience here and the quality of food that we will produce for you.

- Drive in, boat in, bike in.

We have people that will, you know, boat in from Leelanau for dinner, which is pretty unique.

It's awesome, actually.

You know, you see their boats come in.

They tell you when they make their reservation where they're boating in from.

When you walk in the door, you see students plating your foods right away.

- And everybody's just passionate about, you know, having a unique culinary program in the small world, downtown Hessel, Michigan.

- [Adam] The Les Cheneaux Islands and the beauty that abounds in their part of the Eastern Up is postcard perfect.

The community knows it and wants to share it.

- It's an area that people put their heart and soul into their businesses and want visitors to have a wonderful experience here.

- It's a secret.

I don't think we try and keep it a secret.

It's just for some reason the word hasn't gotten out.

The local people, we're very proud of this area, and I think we do a good job in maintaining it.

We want other people to come here and like it as much as we do.

- All right, we all know that movie, "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles."

Well, how about planes, plates, and a satisfied palette?

Well, that's the idea behind WACO Kitchen, a restaurant with a view and delicious food and drinks.

(grill sizzling) (light upbeat music) At first glance, this may look like any hopping restaurant kitchen, but while the chefs at WACO Kitchen work to create some of the best-tasting food you'll find in the area, you'll find yourself enamored with your surroundings.

(airplane droning) - We try to put the most love into our food, and everything's seasonally appropriate.

So it's just, it's a different experience eating lunch here during lunch and seeing a parking lot full of planes and being able to look at the hangers and see the gentleman, and all the avionics guys building the planes by hand.

- [Stefanie] Executive chef Nikolas Hancotte isn't kidding when he says having a meal here is unlike anything you'll ever experience.

WACO Kitchen at the Battle Creek Executive Airport is also a feast for eyes and taste buds.

When you're here ready to have lunch or dinner, you also get to see these one-of-a-kind biplanes on display.

It's really hard not to stop and enjoy the views.

- You know, the experience of pulling in and walking down the hallway, and on your left side, you just see all the glass windows into the Centennial Hangar where they're doing repairs and other stuff on planes.

Then you walk up the stairs, and you come up to the restaurant, and we're floor to ceiling glass everywhere.

- So how did this combination of food and planes come about?

Well, WACO Kitchen is a part of Waco Aircraft Corporation.

WACO Aircraft builds handcrafted biplanes inside these hangers.

They've been doing it here in Battle Creek since early 1980s.

The idea of having a food option inside an airport hangar was initially to feed workers at the airport.

But lucky for you and me, it's open to the public.

- It's just different.

We have customers that they'll get interested in buying a plane.

They work closely with everyone, and they pick out how their plane's gonna be built.

So we have that end of things, building planes from scratch for customers.

And we also hold planes.

We also take planes in for repair.

If you were to fly in with your plane, you could get fuel.

You could get a tuneup.

You can get food while you're waiting.

It's just a little of everything.

We even have showers and sleep room here.

- Now, of course, you don't need to have a WACO plane to eat at WACO Kitchen.

Anyone can enjoy lunch or dinner here, along with the panoramic views and farm-to-table ingredients.

Chef Nick says he's focused on making unique, one-of-a-kind seasonal dishes using local ingredients whenever possible.

He switches up the menu as needed, so you just might find something new on it the next time you visit.

We were fortunate to try some samples, including the lobster bisque and their homemade bread.

And I'll tell you what, it was worth every single bite.

WACO Kitchen does have a second location, but the quickest way to get there is by plane in Lakeland, Florida.

Also, walking on the runway is not allowed during your visit there, but a big thanks to the crew for letting us get up close with their gorgeous biplanes.

Well, that concludes tonight's episode of "Destination Michigan."

A reminder, everything you saw will also be available online.

Thanks for watching, and we'll see you again soon.

(gentle upbeat music) (upbeat music)