March 2019 - Page 3 of 3 - Lost In Michigan

Rogers Carrier House

Posted on March 4, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses .

Down the street from the Capital is this beautiful old Victorian house. The historical maker tells some of its history and reads:

Lansing architect Darius B. Moon built this Queen Anne style house in 1891 for realtor H. M. Rogers. Purchased by Lansing merchant M. R. Carrier in 1905, the house was occupied by the Carrier family until 1964. In 1966, Lansing Community College bought the structure. Students of the architectural studies center began restoring it in 1982. The restoration included redesigning and reconstructing the turret that previously had been removed.

I found out about his house a while ago and on a recent trip to Lansing I wanted to see it. Maybe it’s just me but it seems like Lansing has more one-way streets than any town in Michigan. Whichever way I wanted to go the street was running the opposite direction. I did not think I was ever gonna get to where I wanted to go. I did find this house eventually. Now I know how to get to it so I can come back in the summer when the landscaping is not so dreary.

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Whitefish in Winter

Posted on March 3, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses, upper peninsula .

It’s always a fun trip to see the lighthouse at the tip of Whitefish Point but it is interesting to visit it during the winter. Living downstate we get some snow but they get a lot up at Whitefish Point. It must have been a quite existence taking care of the light way back in the day. Today the historic lighthouse is all bundled up and in hibernation for the winter but a historical marker proudly stands in front of it and reads:

This light, the oldest on Lake Superior, began operating in 1849, though the present tower was constructed later. Early a stopping place for Indians, voyageurs, and Jesuit missionaries, the point marks the course change for ore boats and other ships navigating this treacherous coastline to and from St. Mary’s Canal. Since 1971 the light, fog signal, and radio beacon have been automated and controlled from Sault Ste. Marie.

If you ever get a chance to visit the lighthouse and the nearby T-Falls in winter you should do it. It’s cold but really peaceful without all the tourists.

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The Hanging Tree and a Ghost Town

Posted on March 2, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns, Murders .

Started in the 1880s, near Empire on the shores of Lake Michigan, the town of Aral was a small lumbering community. Charles Wright managed the sawmill and was known for his short temper and willingness to fight. In August of 1889, the Sheriff sent a deputy and treasurer to collect on taxes the sawmill owed to the county. Mr. Wright met the two men as they came into town and after a short argument, he shot and killed both of them leaving their bodies lay in the street. He went back to work at the sawmill as if nothing happened. He must have gotten word from someone that a telegraph message was sent back to the sheriff of the men’s murders. Charles Wright shut down operations for the day and then disappeared into the nearby forest. When the sheriff and a posse of 20 men showed up in the little town of Aral, they found Wright’s native American handyman Peter Lahala, and tied a rope around his neck. They threw it over a nearby tree and pulled him up then lowered him back down trying to get him to disclose the whereabouts of Charles Wright. A the start of hoisting Lahala a third time, two men marched Charles Wright out of the woods and he was taken into custody.

After the deadly events, The tree in town was forever known as “the hanging tree”. The town continued on until the timber was gone. The population slowly dwindled down and by the 1902s all the buildings and houses were moved away. Near Esch Beach, in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is a sign describing the former town of Aral. An old tree lies nearby, and many say that is the remains of the infamous hanging tree. The last two people to leave the town of Aral was Bertie and Donna Bancroft. They moved over to M-22 and built the Ken-Tuc-U-Inn which you can read about HERE

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