Like many of the buildings inside Michilimackinac, French carpenters built the Southeast Rowhouse in the mid-1730s, during the fort’s first major expansion. The building was either extensively renovated or entirely rebuilt in the 1760s. Originally a six-unit rowhouse, the two eastern houses were combined to form a single, larger house. In the 1760s and 1770s, British officers lived in this larger eastern unit, while German trader Ezekiel Solomon owned the house next door. Unlike many of the fort’s other buildings, the rowhouse was not moved to Mackinac Island. The building was demolished and burned around 1781.
Archaeologists excavated various parts of the building between 1976 and 1997, and returned to the site beginning in 2007. The two eastern units were reconstructed in 1989.
Solomon, Michigan’s first Jewish settler, probably used this house as a summer residence, returning to Montreal in the winter. Here, Solomon inspected, sorted, and packed trade goods, and furs, with his house doubling as office and warehouse.
Lieutenant George Clowes, of the 8th Regiment of Foot, most likely lived in the other unit in the mid-1770s. Clowes was a senior subaltern to post commander Arent DePeyster.
