May 2016 - Lost In Michigan

The Ultimate Sacrifice for Freedom

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery .

As a young boy, I always remembered my grandmother show me a photo of her 5 brothers. I could always recognize 4 of my dad’s uncles, but the 5th uncle was Louis. My grandma would point to him in the photo, and always say ” that’s my brother Louis who died in the war when the bomber mission he was on crashed” She was always proud of her brother, and I often wonder what he would have done if he had survived the war. My uncles have gone on to have wonderful families and do many great things, but Louis never made it back home from the war. As I travel around Michigan I see many memorials to men and women that have made the ultimate sacrifice so I could pursue my happiness. My deepest sympathies to the families that have lost a loved one and Thank You to the brave Men and Women who have served, and continue to serve in the military defending our Country.

P. S. If you want to read about my Uncle Louis, and why my grandmother was so proud of him, you can read a post I did HERE

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Traverse City’s Civil War Mounument

Posted on May 24, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in courthouses .

One of the things I have found on my travels around Michigan, are the many Civil War monuments in some of the cities in the state. I found this one on the Grand Traverse County courthouse lawn in Traverse City.

On May 30, 1890 the Mayor of Traverse City, Perry Hannah, welcomed the Civil War Soldier statue to the grounds of the original courthouse on Cass Street. 4,000 citizens and over 300 Civil War veterans attended the unveiling. This statues represents the 171 volunteers from the Traverse Area who marched in the War. The sides of the monument lists the major battlefields where the region’s soldiers fought from 1861 to 1865. Thirty-two local men gave their lives in the conflict.

The statue was made by the Chicago Foundry from what they called “White Bronze” but was actually zinc. the term white bronze was used by many monument companies because it sounded better than zinc. After years of decay, in 2005 the statue was restored and dedicated. I also did a post last year about some of the granite statues I have found and the interesting story of their origin HERE

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The Fallen Soldiers of Mackinac Island

Posted on May 22, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places .

The Post Cemetery is one of only four National Cemeteries with the honor of permanently flying the American flag at half mast. The cemetery is the final resting place for Fort Mackinac soldiers, their families, and local officials. The small cemetery on Mackinac Island is surrounded by a white picket fence with a wooden archway, and had a canon from Fort Sumter South Carolina on dislplay. Of the approximately 108 burials in Fort Mackinac Post Cemetery, 69 are unknown,. The origin of the cemetery is lost to poor record keeping in the early 1800’s but local lore from the nineteenth century suggests that both American and British War of 1812 soldiers are buried here. Many early burials were marked with simple wooden crosses that have long since decayed and disappeared. As a result many of the burials are unknown.

Among the burials is German-born Civil war veteran Ignatius Goldhofer who came to Fort Mackinac in 1896 with a variety of ailments and old wounds. When he died three years later his wife and four children buried him in the Post Cemetery.

Civilian Interments include Edward Biddle who served the community as sheriff, village president and surveyor in the mid nineteenth century. In the 1880’s Lieutenant Calvin Cowles and his wife Mary buried their infant children Josiah and Isabel next to each other in the shaded northeast corner of the cemetery.

P.S. The others Cemeteries that fly the flag at half mast are: the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (the Punchbowl) in Honolulu, Hawaii, Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, and National Cemetery at Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

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The Picturesque Sable Falls at Pictured Rocks

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Waterfalls .

This is Sable Falls in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. I don’t have a story about it for today. I just thought it was beautiful and would share it with you. Thank you for following me, and I hope you like what I post daily. I do my best to post stuff you enjoy seeing.

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St Mary’s Star Of The Sea in Jackson – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Churches, Michigan Historical Markers .

In 1880 Bishop Casper Henry Borgess of the Detroit Diocese approved the establishment of a second Catholic parish in the city of Jackson. The cornerstone ceremony for the parish church was held July 4, 1881. The present limestone Romanesque structure, erected in 1923/26 was designed by Frederick Spier of Detroit. One of the towers houses the 2,700-pound 1902 bell from the parish’s first church. The edifice also features stained-glass windows imported from Innsbruck, Austria, and Italian Carrara marble altars and communion rails. The confessionals and sacristy cases were built using the pews of the first building. During the parish’s growth from 124 members at its founding to 3,800 at the time of its centennial, it has had only six pastors.

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A Tragic Day in Michigan History

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Michigan Historical Markers .

I would much rather post positive stories, but the tragic ones should not be forgotten. Sadly Michigan had one of the most devastating acts of evil perpetrated in the country. A Michigan Historical Marker stands next to a Cupola silently standing in a park in Bath Michigan that reminds us of the horror that occurred.

On May 18, 1927, a dynamite blast rocked the Bath Consolidated School, shattering one wing of the building and resulting in the death of thirty-nine children and teachers; dozens more were injured. An inquest concluded that dynamite had been planted in the basement of the school by Andrew Kehoe, an embittered school board member. Resentful of higher taxes imposed for the school construction and the impending foreclosure on his farm, he took revenge on Bath’s citizens by targeting their children. Soon after the explosion, as parents and rescue workers searched through the rubble for children, Kehoe took his life and the lives of four bystanders including the superintendent, one student and two townspeople, by detonating dynamite in his pick-up truck as he sat parked in front of the school.

The destruction of the Bath Consolidated School shared the front page of national newspapers with Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight. “Maniac Blows Up School …Had Protested High Taxes” screamed the headlines of the May 19, 1927, New York Times. Michigan Governor Fred Green created the Bath Relief Fund, and people from across the country expressed their sympathies and offered financial support. Michigan U.S. Senator James Couzens gave generously to the fund and donated money to rebuild the school. On August 18, 1928, Bath looked to the future and dedicated the James Couzens Agricultural School to its “living youth.” A statue entitled, Girl with a Cat, sculpted by the University of Michigan artist Carleton W. Angell and purchased with pennies donated by the children of Michigan was also dedicated that day.

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Beautiful Downtown Yale

Posted on May 17, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in small towns .

I like visiting small towns in Michigan, and while traveling the southern part of the thumb ( I guess if the thumb starts at I69). I went thru the town of Yale and I saw the Yale Hotel with the ghost mural on the side that said Est. in 1900, I had to stop and take a pic. I imagine there were many wayward travelers that had stopped there over the years. The town originally started when Nathan White founded a village called Brockway Center on the banks of Mill Creek in 1851. At the suggestion of B. R. Noble, it was changed to Yale in 1889 in honor of the university. The beautiful James McColl house is in the town of Yale, you can see my post about it HERE

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The Places I find on the Back Roads

Posted on May 15, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Schools .

I found this old building which looks like an old school house east of Ithaca traveling the back roads. If it was a school I am not sure which school. Maybe Lafayette school since the historic Lafayette Church is down the road. I guess whatever it uses to be, it isn’t that anymore.

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Michigan’s Oldest Lighthouse

Posted on May 14, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses .

The first lighthouse in the state of Michigan was constructed In 1825 north of Fort Gratiot at the entrance to the St Clair River near Port Huron. The contract for the construction of the lighthouse and keeper’s dwelling was awarded to Captain Winslow Lewis of Massachusetts. Lewis was the inventor of the patented Lewis lamp, Which was universally adopted as the primary source of illumination in the nation’s growing inventory of lighthouses. Lewis sub-contracted the construction of the tower and keeper’s dwelling that would become known as the “Fort Gratiot Light” to Daniel Warren of Rochester, New York.

it became quickly apparent that the structure was both poorly designed and constructed. George McDougall, was selected as the light’s first official keeper. McDougall’s reports indicated that the stairs were so steep that they had to be climbed sideways, and the trapdoor into the lantern room was barely large enough for a man to squeeze through, but he was a short man with a weight in excess of 300 pounds, and as such hired an assistant to perform all of his tower work. Originally the tower was 32 feet tall. In 1861, after two additions, the tower reached its current height of 82 feet.

the tower was damaged during a storm in the fall of 1828, and later fell down. Congress reacted swiftly and appropriated $8,000 for a new tower in 1829. The new tower was 65 feet tall and 25′ in diameter and it was outfitted with the Lewis lamp system powered by whale oil, which was then the standard. The Lewis lamps were removed from Fort Gratiot in 1857, and the tower was refitted with a fourth-order Fresnel lens, which had an intensity at least four times that of the old Lewis lamps

The Lighthouse was eventually upgraded to a modern electric lamp and is the oldest active lighthouse in Michigan.

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Running like Crazy

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Schools .

I have been busy lately and not posting as much as I want too. My son and daughter are both running track for school this spring, and I had 4 track meets last week, and another 4 this week. I wanted to let you know so if I miss a post for a few days or I am late in responding to your email, that is why. I have taken a few pics on my way to some of the meets, but I am looking forward to getting out on a road trip and getting some more pics. I do enjoy going to the away meets and seeing other schools, the people at school sports are always friendly and welcoming, and I don’t mind supporting the schools, even if its a different school than my own kids school.

P.S. if you’re wondering, this pic of of the track at Bay City Western in Auburn a few years ago. we got delayed for a thunderstorm and then after it had passed we had this beautiful sunset. I just wish I had a pic like this of my kids home track.

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