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Unadilla Township

126 Webb Street
734-498-2502

History :

Unadilla Township includes the Villages of Plainfield, Gregory, and Unadilla. The Township Hall is located at 126 Webb St. (one block east of Main St. in the Village of Gregory).

Unadilla Township is located two miles east of Stockbridge and five miles west of Pinckney. The population of the Township is 3,721 (2002 Estimate).

When the first settlers came to the area that would become Unadilla Township they found a few small bands of Pottawatomie Indians camped along the lakes and streams. The Indians marked their trails by bending a branch of a tree and staking it to the ground; the tree then grew with a branch angled upward, and their marked trails crisscrossed the area into what would become Washtenaw County to make contact with other tribes there. Some of these markings can still be found in the area, and old historical accounts tell where the trails ran and where they diverged.

The Native American culture was already on the wane and according to contemporary accounts, the Indians 'occasionally stole potatoes or entered homes to demand food' but on the whole caused little trouble.

Many Indian artifacts were found. For many years plowing fields brought up arrowheads and nearly every farmer had a collection. A perfect stone axe was found in a marsh near Unadilla and a hidden canoe was found alongside a lake. In the early 1930's a dancing circle was still visible from the air near lakes in the southwestern part of the township.

The War of 1812 brought the British Army back into America and it was not until 1828, barely five years before the first settler came to Unadilla Township, that the British garrison left Drummond Island. They were the last British troops to leave the U.S.


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