Arbre Croche, or l'arbre croche, translates from the French as 'the crooked tree' and refers an area along the northwest coast of the southern peninsula of Michigan north of Harbor Springs and southwest of Michilimackinac. In the eighteenth century a principal village of the Odawa occupied the area. "The tradition says when the Ottawas first came to that part of the country a great pine stood very near the shore [of Lake Michigan] where Middle Village now is, whose top was very crooked, almost hook-like. Therefore the Ottawas called the place "Wau-gaw-naw-ke-zee" - meaning the crooked top of the tree. But by and by the whole coast from Little Traverse to Tehin-gaw-beng, now Cross Village, became denominated as Wau-gaw-naw-ke-zee," (HIstory of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan by Andrew Blackbird, 1887, page 10; Ypsilanti, Michigan: The Ypsilantian Job Printing House; reprinted by the Little Traverse Regional Historical Society, Inc., Petoskey, Michigan).
