October 2020 - Page 3 of 3 - Lost In Michigan

The Haunted Library

Posted on October 10, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Haunted Places, Library .

Some claim that this historic library in Belding is haunted. They do not know who it is that haunts the Alvah N. Belding Library, but according to the internets when doing a little googling some say that they have heard children laughing in the children’s section when nobody is around. I don’t know about this place being haunted but it is a beautiful old building. The historical marker out front proudly tells some of its history.

Alvah N. Belding erected this library in 1917/18 as a memorial to his parents, Hiram and Mary Wilson Belding. Alvah and his brother Hiram began peddling silk around Belding (then Patterson’s Mills) in 1858. With the help of their brother Milo they began the internationally known Belding Bros. & Company in 1863. Michigan’s first silk mill was erected here in 1886 and operated until 1932. This library, which cost $50,000, was dedicated and presented to the City of Belding on May 14, 1918. It is the only structure built by the Beldings still being used for its original purpose. An example of Classical Revival architecture, the limestone structure features a Spanish-tile roof. Its interior contains trim of marble oak and pine.

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The Iron Works

Posted on October 9, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in cities .

Walking around just about any town in Michigan and looking down at a manhole cover you most likely will see East Jordan Iron Works cast onto it. If you have ever been through the Jordan Valley in Michigan it’s hard to miss the massive foundry in the town of East Jordan. The company was founded in 1883 and originally made castings for the lumbering industry. In the early 1900s, they began producing products such as fire hydrants for municipalities and have been one of the world’s largest suppliers of infrastructure castings. Next time you see a manhole cover with East Jordan on it maybe you will think of the big out foundry with the American Flag proudly painted on the side of it.

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Ferry Street School

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Schools .

This brick school is located on Ferry Street in the southwestern Michigan city of Niles. The historical marker standing next to it reads:

Constructed in 1867 at a cost of nearly $3,000, the Ferry Street School opened in January, 1868 as Niles’s school for “colored children.” In 1870 the Niles school system was integrated, and this facility closed. It reopened as an integrated school in 1873. The west wing was added in 1903. From 1956 to 1975 the School for Exceptional Children was located here. In 1975 concerned citizens began restoring the original building to its nineteenth century style. Nineteenth century one-room schools in this community typically contained a woodburning stove, woodbox, water bench, coat pegs, wooden blackboards and long rows of desks. One teacher often taught two grades. Lessons were in reading, writing, spelling, numbers, declamation and geography – – all with a moral. This school provides a link to schools of yesteryear.

If you read what was on the historical marker, you probably wondered about declamation as I did. According to Wikipedia, it is an artistic form of public speaking. It is amazing what I learn from reading historical markers.

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Glen Haven Canning Co.

Posted on October 7, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places .

The Glen Haven Canning Co. building sits along the Lake Michigan shoreline in the small town of Glen Haven a few miles away from Glen Arbor. The canning company building was originally used as a warehouse supplying ships and fishing vessels. In the 1920’s it was used to can cherries. I assume that is when it was painted bright red. Now it is used as a museum exhibiting old wooden boats from the region.

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The Pigeon Depot

Posted on October 6, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Thumb, Train Depots .

The Pigeon Depot was constructed in 1908 and served two railroad lines. In 1883 the Pontiac, Oxford and Port Austin Railroad, a north-south line, had been extended to Caseville and a depot was built at Berne, one mile north of here. Around 1886 the Saginaw, Tuscola and Huron Railroad built tracks through the Tamarack Swamp and crossed the north-south line at this point. This railroad stop became known as Berne Junction. Berne’s population dwindled as people moved to the junction where they established Pigeon in 1888. The Pontiac, Oxford, and Port Austin Line became the Pontiac Oxford and Northern and later the Grand Trunk Railroad. The Saginaw, Tuscola and Huron was absorbed by the Pere Marquette Railroad and then the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. The Pigeon Depot presently serves as the Pigeon Historical Society Museum.

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Secrets of the Octagon House in Dansville

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Haunted Places, Historic Places, Houses .

This oddly shaped two-story octagon house stands near downtown Dansville. The small town is on M-36 about 25 miles southeast of Lansing. The historic octagon house was built in 1863 by Doctor. D.J. Watson. Rumors have claimed the house was used on the Underground Railroad. Legend has it, escaping slaves would hide in the basement while lookouts stood watch in the cupola. There was a tube that ran down the cent of the house for the lookouts to alert the slaves. If they needed to escape supposedly a tunnel leading out the back of the house to a wooded area whey they could leave undetected. None of the rumors have been proven to be true. A tube did run from the cupola to the basement but it was used for ventilation. It was also believed a tunnel was in the basement, but that had lead to a garage that is gone now.

Rumors are also circulating that the house is haunted by the spirits of runaway slaves that may have died in the house. But they are probably just imaginative ghost stories to go along with the Underground Railroad theories. Whether or not the house was used on the Underground Railroad, it is a unique house that has stood since the time of the Civil War. It is one of only a few Octagon Houses standing in Michigan.

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Lost on the Dirt Roads

Posted on October 3, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Barns and Farms .

I was out roaming the back roads of central Michigan near Shepherd when I turned down a dirt road. I came upon this old barn and I had to stop and take a pic. I don’t know any history about it but I thought it looked like a grand old barn. My jeep gets a little dirty cruising along those dusty gravel roads but I do see some nice scenery. Sadly some of the dirt roads are smoother than the paved ones.

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Michigan’s Remote and Secluded Cemetery

Posted on October 2, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery, upper peninsula .

I have visited a lot of cemeteries in Michigan doing research and the Holy Angels Cemetery on Sugar Island has to be one of the most secluded cemeteries in Michigan. The cemetery is also known as Payment Cemetery because many of the people buried in the old graveyard were from the nearby town of Payment. Michael G. Payment started a settlement on the shores of Sugar Island in 1845 and traded with the local Indians. In 1853 Bishop Baraga started a church that still stands today. You can see my post about it HERE

Behind the church, about 200 yards uphill, is the old cemetery. It was a somewhat difficult hike up a rocky path and I imagine it would be challenging to get landscaping equipment back there. The cemetery has a lot of tall grass and ferns growing among the tombstones and wooden crosses marking the graves of people laid to rest decades ago.

If you want to visit this burial ground you have to take a ferry to the island then head over to the church then hike up the hill to reach it, so yeah, I think it is one of the most remote cemeteries in Michigan.

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The Lost and Found Michigan Ghost Town of Deward

Posted on October 1, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns .

The town of Deward northwest of Grayling had one of the largest sawmills in Michigan. The town was started in 1900 and named in honor of lumber baron David E. Ward. At one time it had a population of 800 people. It had a ferocious appetite for timber and after all the standing timber was logged off and cut into boards the sawmill closed in 1912 and the town died off. The buildings were dismantled and hauled away and the old sawmill was demolished leaving some concrete foundations.

Eventually, the trees grew back covering over the former townsite hiding it from view. If you know where to look you can still see the foundations and relics of the past. I felt like a modern-day Indiana Jones or Josh Gates, only without the hat, as I trekked through the forest looking for relics of the past.

I give exact locations in my Lost In Michigan books and not normally on the internet. Usually, with a little searching on google, you can find the locations of a lot of places but I had a difficult time finding the Deward ruins. I could find a lot of info about Deward, but the location seemed to be vague. I made three trips to the area until I finally found the lost town’s location. The maps show it near an intersection of Manistee River Road and Post Road. Actually, it is about a 1/4 mile south of there.

The best way to find the ruins is from county road 612. Take Manistee River Road north past West Cameron Bridge Road. About a mile and a half north of West Cameron Bridge Road you will see a two-track heading west with a small green sign with a binoculars symbol on it. Go down that road about 100 yards to a parking area. Take the trail down to the river. you will see an old wooden fence with concrete bases at each end left over from the sawmill. From the south base head into the woods about 50 yards and you will see the concrete foundations. You can’t miss them they are huge about the size of a pickup truck. The threaded rods sticking out of the top are about 2 or 3 inches in diameter. Whatever was mounted to them must have been massive.

During the summer you can get there in a car, but I would recommend a truck or SUV, especially in the spring and fall when it is raining a lot. If you want to get out and see something few people have seen, this as a great place to explore. You can see depressions in the ground where buildings once stood and there still is a dry ditch that I assume where logs were floated to the mill.

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