February 2021 - Lost In Michigan

Huron City Church

Posted on February 28, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Churches .

Near the tip of the thumb along the Lake Huron shoreline is the historic town of Huron City. No one lives in the former town but it is not a ghost town. It has been converted into a museum consisting of several historic buildings. One of them is this historic church that served as the methodist church for the town since it was built in 1882.

The windows are covered up for the winter, I guess I will have to go back and visit in the summer. you can find out more about the historic village on their website HERE.

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The Haunted Sage Library

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Haunted Places, Library .

Near the Historic Midland Street district in Bay City is the magnificent brick Sage Library. A green Michigan historical marker stands in front of it giving a little history of the building.

Henry W. Sage (1814-1897) founded the village of Wenona (later West Bay City) in 1863. A merchant and philanthropist, he was also a founder of the Sage, McGraw & Company sawmill. In 1881 he donated property, building funds and $10,000 for books to West Bay City for its first public library. The structure was built in 1882-1883 at a cost of nearly $50,000. Charles Babcock of Cornell University designed the French Chateauesque-style building, and the local architectural firm of Pratt & Koeppe superintended the construction. The library was dedicated on January 16, 1884, in a ceremony presided over by Cornell’s Moses Coit Tyler. Michigan Supreme Court judges, congressmen and state officials attended. Offering continuous public library service since 1884, the library was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

What the sign does not tell, is that the historic building is rumored to be haunted. According to the book Haunted Bay City, Michigan the library has had some strange occurrences over the years. Librarians have sometimes heard loud heavy footsteps behind them as they work. After turning around no one is there. When closing up at night all the books are neatly organized and in the morning sometimes a few books are found strewn about as if a storm or something, or someone has moved them in a disorderly manner. Most disturbing is people have seen a little girl in a white dress on the third floor. Legend has it she died over a century ago by contracting smallpox from a book she borrowed from the library.

I am not sure if any of the ghost sightings are true but it is a beautiful old library with a lot of history.

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Meads Mill Ruins

Posted on February 25, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places, Winter Wonderland .

These old stone ruins on the Middle River Rouge stand in Hines Park in Northville. The sign nearby reads Meads Mill but I have read that they were not part of the mill. According to Nailhed.com they were part of a 1937 Works Progress Administration project. It was built as a waterwheel and intake site for the Wayne County Training School powerhouse. Whatever they were for, it makes for a nice little waterfall and an interesting place to visit.

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The Michigan Relics Hoax

Posted on February 24, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in people .

In 1890, James O. Scotford, a sign painter living in the central Michigan town of Edmore, claimed to have found a strange clay cup and carved tablets in the ground near his home. As he found more ancient artifacts he started drawing the attention of investors who purchased the strange objects with intention of making a profit off of displaying them to the public. By 1907 he partnered with Daniel E. Soper former Michigan Secretary of State who resigned after being accused of embezzlement.

Scotford would find the artifacts and Soper would sell them. They found thousands of ancient relics in 17 counties around Michigan. It was said that Scotford would take investors out and dig around looking for relics. when he found one he would let his investors or landowners remove them from the soil. Know one know for sure but it is believed he used sleight of hand tricks to partially bury the artifacts.

As scholars and experts began looking at them they seemed fake with multiple languages on the same artifact and details that were missing that should not have been. The number of relics found was also suspect. Scotford and Soper never admitted to faking any of the artifacts and maintained they were authentic to the day they died.

Because of their religious theme, many of the relics were purchased by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early 1900s. As time went on many experts proved that the artifacts were fakes. By 1960 technology could prove the copper used was manufactured using modern 20th-century technics and was not thousands of years old.

The church gave most of the relics to the Michigan History Museum where they were put on display in 2003. Since then they have been picked up and put into storage like the ark in Raiders of the Lost Ark. There is way more to the story than what I have written here, but I wanted to keep it a short read for my daily post. It has been said to be one of the largest hoaxes in the archeological world and has brought into question, what artifacts found in Michigan are legitimate and what is fake. I am surprised the story has not been made into a movie yet.

P.S. If you can find it, the documentary Hoax or History: The Michigan Relics is fascinating. I watched it several years ago on PBS. It shows up on Amazon Prime HERE but it is not available for viewing.

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The Octagon House Near Mayville

Posted on February 23, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses, Thumb .

Near the town of Mayville is a unique looking octagon house with a cupola on the roof. The house was built in 1870 by William Randall. He was a Canadian born carpenter who traveled the United States working on construction projects. He retired and took up farming in Mayville and living in the house until his death in 1882. After he died The house and farm passed onto his son and his wife. Octagon houses were popular in the late 1800s because of Orson Fowler’s book A Home for All, which promoted the octagon form as a healthy place to live. This is one of a few octagon houses in Michigan that still stands today.

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The Round Barn

Posted on February 22, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Barns and Farms .

I saw this magnificent old round barn on M-66 somewhere north of the small town of Sears. It is a rather unique looking barn since it is truly round with a cone-shaped roof. The urban legend is round barns were built because the devil could not catch you in a corner. The most common theory is they are stronger since the wind does not have a side to “push” on when it is blowing. It the greatest pic because I took it from the road but I thought it was interesting.

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Broadcasting from St. Andrew’s

Posted on February 21, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Churches .

St. Andrew’s in Grand Rapids is one of Michigan’s oldest parishes. The current church was constructed in 1875. In 1901 lightning struck one of the steeples and a fire destroyed part of the church building. It was rebuilt and expanded. Some of the wooden beams above the ceiling still show the charred marks from the fire. In the 1950s, a television studio was created in the historic church, and cameras were used to broadcast Sunday mass into people’s homes.

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Elowski Mill

Posted on February 20, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Grain Elevators, Winter Wonderland .

This old mill stands near Posen northwest of Alpena. A Michigan historical marker gives a little history about his old mill and reads:

Prussian immigrant Michael Elowsky fled the turmoil brewing in Eastern Europe in 1862. He settled in Detroit, was joined by his family, and migrated to Presque Isle County around 1870. under President Lincoln’s Homestead Act of 1865, he obtained his land on the north branch of the Thunder Bay River near Posen at no cost. He built a log dam and moved a part of this structure from Trout River and eventually developed a complex of flour,shingle, siding, planing, and lathe milling operations. Residents of Metz, Posen, and Krakow townships brought grain and timber to this mill. With the help of Thomas Edison, Michael’s son Emil added a generator and electric lights to operate the mill 24 hours a day. When the Mill closed at the end of the harvest season in October of 1963, that became the last time it would operate. During the winter of 1963-4, a great amount of snow fell, so with the spring melt, a very great run-off on the river caused the original log dam to collapse. The great run off also wiped out the sawmill that the family had across the river on the south bank. All the equipment was left intact and remains to this day.

The mill is privately owned and is part of Hemlock Hills On Mill Pond.

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Dead Of Winter

Posted on February 19, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places, Houses .

I saw this old house somewhere near Mancelona. I don’t know its story but it looked rather sad and lonely. It seems like we are in that part of winter where it is time for it to be over with. I have a lot of places I want to visit but the snow makes the journey difficult if not impossible. During the dead of winter, I do what I can to stay busy and see what I can find exploring the back roads if only some forgotten places with a story that has been lost to history.

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House Admiration

Posted on February 18, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses .

I was driving around Frankfort admiring the old houses. I like this one up on the hill along with several others. I don’t know its history but it is a beautiful looking old house. In the past, I have wondered if anyone else enjoys looking at old houses but since Facebook and social media I have figured out there are a lot of people the love old houses. If you are ever in Frankfort be sure to drive around and look at all the old houses, there are some real beauties there.

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