January 2021 - Lost In Michigan

Church of Hersey

Posted on January 31, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Churches .

This beautiful old wooden church stands in the small town of Hersey in the central Lower Peninsula. A historicla marker proudly stands in front of it and reads:

The First Congregational Church of Hersey was formally organized in 1870. Services were held in a local schoolhouse for three years. Delos A. Blodgett — early explorer, prominent lumberman and first settler of the area — donated the land and lumber for this church, which was built in 1873-74 at a cost of $3,000. It features handsome leaded-glass windows and a pyramidal steeple. Michigan white pine graces both the exterior and interior, including a handmade pulpit.

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Penniman Castle

Posted on January 30, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in castles, Houses .

This grand old castle made of fieldstone stands in a quiet neighborhood in Battle Creek. Known as Penniman Castle it was completed in 1906 to resemble a medieval castle with 4 towers at each corner and a great hall in the middle. The house originally had a 3rd floor, but it was destroyed by fire in 1941 and never rebuilt.

Postcard showing what the home originally looked like before the upper floor was destroyed by fire.

Built by Dentist John Penniman and constructed with one-foot thick walls the home was one of the costliest built in southwest Michigan at the time. The house with its octagon towers took almost 6 years to build. The interior is trimmed with ornately carved quarter-sawn oak including the garderobe ( a fancy term for a privy or latrine in a castle ). The castle has seventeen rooms, four of which are bedrooms. The house was added to the national register of historic places in 2001.

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The Houses of Afton

Posted on January 29, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places, Houses .

Located between Indian River and Onaway people pass through the little town on M-68. There are a few modern houses and a store in the mostly forgotten town. When I drive by these old houses I wonder what their story is. The town started as a lumber camp in 1887. In 1905 it was given a post office. The nearby Pigeon River was similar to the Afton River in Scotland and thus the town was named after it.

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Elberta U.S. Lifesaving Station

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places, Ships and Boats .

This building was built in Elberta in 1887 as a station for the U.S. Life Saving Service. One man would be in the cupola while another walked the beach watching for ships or sailors in distress. The building was used until 1935 when a new Coast Guard station was built on the other side of Betsie Lake in Frankfort. The building was then used by the railroad for offices and a marine center. It is now part of Elberta’s Waterfront Park and used as a hall for wedding receptions and parties.

I can’t imagine how challenging it would have been to work in the U.S. Life Saving Service. Rowing out into a winter storm on a raging Lake Michigan. It must have been truly terrifying and physically draining. The unofficial motto of Life Service is. “You have to go out, but you don’t have to come back”

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Columbia Crossroads

Posted on January 27, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Schools, Thumb .

A few miles south of Unionville is an old schoolhouse. Above the door is the lettering 1909 Columbia Dist. No. 2. Most of the old schools I find have the date when they were constructed, but I have never seen the date when they closed. I am not sure when this old schoolhouse last taught children inside its brick walls. However, I did find out that the school was part of a small town called Columbia Corners. The community started in 1854 and it had a post office from 1879 until 1903. Not much of the town exists today, but I wonder how many kids learned to read and write in the little schoolhouse.

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The Town of Michigan

Posted on January 26, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places .

One of the most influential cities in Michigan is the state’s capital city of Lansing. Strangely, when Michigan first became a state in 1837, Lansing was not much more than swampland. Michigan’s constitution required the state have a permanent capital ten years after it acquired statehood. The temporary capital was in Detroit, but many representatives wanted somewhere more central in the state. Several cities including Jackson, Marshall, and Ann Arbor lobbied hard to be the new home of the capital.

James Seymour, a land speculator with a mill in what is now North Lansing, campaigned for Lansing Township. He argued that it is equidistant from Detroit, Monroe, Mt. Clemens, and the mouths of the Grand and Kalamazoo rivers. In 1847, after voting fifty one times, out of frustration they finally agreed the permanent capital would be in Lansing township. The densely wooded and marshy township had less than one hundred residents when it was chosen.

The citizens of Michigan were highly skeptical of the new plan, many even though it was a joke. In the beginning, the city did not even have a name. The location was simply known as the “Town of Michigan” when it was first platted. A wooden two-story building was quickly erected to serve as the state capital. Many of the legislators and representatives had to sleep on the upper floor of the new capital or in people’s private homes while governing the young state. In April the state legislature considered naming the capital Pewanogowink, Swedenborg, or El Dorado, but chose Lansing.

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The Stone Silo

Posted on January 25, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Barns and Farms .

I saw this old barn with its stone silo somewhere near Alpena. I have always been a city boy and not an expert at farming but I know an old barn and silo when I see it.

Not much of a story with this pic I just liked the old silo. I hope you do too and it starts your day off in a good mood.

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The Forgotten General Store

Posted on January 24, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places, General Store .

Bracing itself against the wind and snow for several years the remains of this old general store still stand in the small forgotten town of Dighton. Located a few miles south of Cadillac, the town was named after Dighton Marvin. At one point it had over 1000 residents and three sawmills. Not much remains of the old sawmill town today. A store and a few houses are all that is left of the once bustling community.

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Michigan’s Urban Legend of Hell’s Bridge

Posted on January 23, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Haunted Places .

Northwest of Rockford this rickety old metal footbridge crosses the Rogue River and has been dubbed as Hell’s Bridge. Urban legend has it that this is the spot where a man killed several children you can hear their screams at night and see their faces in the water of the flowing river. I have read different variations of the legend on the internets but As the story goes, In the 1800s, a man by the name of Elias Friskie who lived near the river either kidnapped children or was asked to watch a group of children. He took them down to the river where the current metal bridge crosses it. they say he was summoned by a demon to murder the innocent children. Either he buried their bodies under leaves near the river, or threw them into the river to be carried downstream. When the townspeople of Rockford began looking for the children they found Elias Friskie covered in blood and hanged him from a bridge over the Rogue River.

That is the gist of the urban legend. I am not sure how true it is or if any of it is true. I looked for Elias Friskie on www.findagrave.com but I did not see him listed on there or anywhere else. I am thinking he was a fictional person and a story created to scare the local teenagers and it has grown over time and especially on the internet. I think the name of Elias Friske was taken from Friskie Road which is where the trail to access the bride state from.

I stopped by and visited the legendary bridge, but did not see or witness anything out of the ordinary other than the graffiti on the tree. From what I could tell it looks as if it is a spot where you could launch a canoe or kayak. There is a small parking lot with a bulletin board, although nothing was posted on it. It looked like it was meant for public access, but there are houses around so I did not wander off the trail because I assume the surrounding property is private. I am guessing years ago the local teenagers hung out and partied at the remote spot on the river and that is how the legend of Hell’s Bridge began.

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An Old Farmhouse

Posted on January 22, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses, Thumb .

This old lonely forgotten house is near Watrousville in the Thumb. During these cold Michigan winter nights, I imagine there was a large family living in it that kept warm by the heat of the fireplace. I know people who heat their house with wood, and they do a lot of cutting and splitting. Myself being a lazy city boy, I just go over and turn up the thermostat, and burn some more gas. I was told when you heat with wood, ” it keeps you twice as warm, once while you are splitting and stacking it, and then again while you burn it”. This old house looks like it used a lot of wood to keep warm. I hope you are safe and warm wherever you are at.

Note: I only take pics from the road and do not trespass.

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