The D H day Barn has to be Michigan’s most famous barn. If not the most famous the most photographed. It is across from the dune climb in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The barn was built in the 1880s and its arched roof with coned shaped silo roofs make it unique a photogenic. The property is privately owned and as far as I know there are no tours given to the public.
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This Italianate cream brick house on Oliver Street in Owosso was built by Amos Gould in 1860. When Owosso was incorporated as a city Gould became the city’s first mayor. He also organized the first bank in Owosso operating it out of this house. He owned large amounts of property around Michigan and lumbering interest in the Upper Peninsula around the Gould City area, and if you’re wondering, yes the town was named after him.
Besides the Gould house, there are several beautiful old ornate houses in Owosso, I love driving around the area looking at them.
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I saw this old church in Portland. I looks as if it has been a long time since it has seen a Sunday morning service or a wedding. I think it still is a beautiful old church though.
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One of South Haven’s first keepers was James S. Donahue, a veteran of the Civil War. After being shot in battle one of his legs was amputated. He requested a job with the lighthouse service, and to convince him to find employment elsewhere, they gave him the job of keeper at South Haven. They figured he would grow tired of walking out to the end of the pier to maintain the light. He did the job for over 35 years and made it to the light every night regardless of the weather and Lake Michigan storms.
The current light at the end of the south pier was built in 1903, the red steel structure, originally painted white, replaced the old wooden light that could not withstand the pounding of Lake Michigan’s unforgiving waves. I can only imagine the relentless storms coming off the lake in winter for over a 100 years, trying to take down this mighty beacon of hope, but it still remains resolute in its mission of guiding sailors and ships into South Haven. If you love lighthouses I hope you will take a look at my new Lighthouse book HERE
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This massive building complex sits along the Kalamazoo River in Plainwell. It was a paper mill built in 1886 and at its peak produced 50 tons of paper daily. It changed owners a few times and then it closed in 2000. The city of Plainwell purchased the old mill and have been redeveloping the property into office and retail space.
If you are near the Plainwell area I will be giving a presentation at the Ransom District Library on February 16th, at 7pm. You can learn more about my winter presentations HERE
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This dilapidated old building was the Casa Blanca Hotel in the resort community of Idlewild. In its heyday it was a grand old hotel and people would travel for miles to stay overnight. Idlewild was a thriving resort community for African Americans after the war. Over time the town popularity dwindled and few people live there now. You can see more photos and info about the hotel on my previous post HERE
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When visiting Whitefish Point and the T-falls I like to go through the town of Brimley and follow the Lake Superior shoreline. After getting something to eat at Clyde’s Drive Inn on US-2 in St Ignace, Brimley is a nice place to stop for a bathroom break and pick up a bottle of Faygo Redpop for the trip to see the falls. The community on Lake Superior was founded by European Americans in 1887 as the town of Superior. It was renamed in 1896 for a local postal official to avoid confusion with a station in Minnesota on the same railroad line that was also named Superior.
I love the little train depot in town, and I had to stop and take a pic of it to go with my collection of train depot pics. I did a little research on the internets to find out the history of the depot, and what I found out is that it’s a new depot. It was built by the historical society as a replica of the old depot. I thought it was a brilliant idea to build an important building from the past like this nice little train depot.
P.S. Sorry my posts got mixed up today and you got a double notification of yesterdays post about the canton school. Sorry for the inconvenience and confusion. Hopefully my posts are back on track now.
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This brick one-room schoolhouse near the Canton Township Offices was constructed in 1884 by Hargreaze Sittlington. ( you gotta love people’s interesting names back in the day ) The school boasts beautiful brickwork and arches over the doors and windows. The school closed in 1954. In 1977, the school district donated it to the Canton Historical Society, which restored the building and opened it as a museum in 1982.
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