Sunday April, 2 from 1:00 to 4:00 I will be at Charlin’s Book Nook at the Frankenmuth River Place Shops. If you want a book autographed you can bring your own or they will have them available for purchase. If you just want to stop by and say hello and chat for a few minutes that’s fine too. I hope I will see you there. You can find out more about Charlin’s on their Facebook page HERE
The town of Nashville Michigan is about twenty miles southwest of Lansing. It was named for George Nash an engineer in charge of construction with the Michigan Central Railroad. Near the center of town is the Putmam Library. If it looks like an Italianate style house that’s because it was. Built in 1884-85, it was the home of Charles W. and Agnes Putnam. Mr. Putnam was a hardware merchant and banker; Mrs. Putnam taught music and was the first public school teacher in Nashville. Around the turn of the century, the Putnams hosted many elegant social events here. In 1921 they willed their home to Nashville for use as a public library. They established a ten-thousand-dollar trust fund to begin its operation. The Woman’s Literary Club launched the library in 1923.
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On US-12 in the town of Somerset Center is McCourtie Park. The park has some wonderful concrete bridges that span a little creek which flows through the park. A Historical marker tells the stories of these bridges and the park:
Somerset Center native W. H. L. McCourtie (1872 – 1933) was introduced to the cement industry by W. F. Cowham of Jackson in 1897. McCourtie soon went to Dallas, Texas, where he made a fortune speculating in oil and established the Trinity Portland Cement Company. During the 1920s McCourtie returned to Somerset Center. In 1924 he acquired his family’s home and turned it into a community showplace. McCourtie sought to create a model town. He gave free white paint to any home owner that needed it. He also hosted the community’s annual homecoming celebration. Thousands of people came to “Aiden Lair” to witness stunt flyers and enjoy baseball, local musicians, dancing and unlimited refreshments. At the height of the Great Depression, McCourtie offered his estate as a place “Where Friends Meet Friends and Part More Friendly.”
The W. H. L. McCourtie Estate may contain the country’s largest collection of el trabeio rustico, the Mexican folk tradition of sculpting concrete to look like wood. Around 1930, most likely inspired by work he had seen in Texas, cement tycoon W. H. L. McCourtie hired itinerant Mexican artisans George Cardoso and Ralph Corona to construct seventeen bridges on his property. The artisans formed the bridges with steel rods and then hand sculpted wet concrete to resemble planed lumber, rough logs, thatch, and rope. Different species of trees can be identified. Two concrete trees that stand on the property continue to serve as chimneys for the underground rathskellar and garage. The McCourtie estate is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
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The Newton House stands in Fred Russ State Forest northeast of Dowagiac. The house was built in the 1860s, for state legislator George Newton. In 1931, Fred Russ purchased the house and the surrounding 580 acre parcel of timberland. In 1942, he gifted the land to Michigan State University and The University Forestry School used it as part of the Fred Russ Experimental Forest. The house was restored by the Cass County Historical Commission and is now used as a museum.
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I thought this house south of downtown Albion was magnificent, and I loved the roof. I see many beautiful old houses and wonder about their history but thankfully it had a Michigan Historical Marker proudly posted in front of it which reads:
Augustus P. Gardner (1817-1905), a wealthy hardware merchant, built this Victorian style house in 1875. A three-story, thirteen-room mansion with a mansard roof, it was Gardner’s home until his death in 1905. In 1966, after decades of neglect, the house was purchased by the Albion Historical Society. Restored, it houses a local museum. Five of the rooms are furnished as a nineteenth century home, and the remainder feature permanent and rotating exhibits. This house is among the last of its type in the area.
I wonder if I am the only one who reads the markers posted around the state but I am grateful for the information they provide.
Minnie Farmer Park stands next to the Tamarack Creek in the northeast part of Howard City. It is a little roadside park with a pavilion. Next to the creek behind the pavilion is a pipe sticking out of the ground with artesian spring water flowing from it. The well is a hidden little gem and I like to stop there and fill up my water bottle when I am passing through.
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Michigan has a few lumbering and mining ghost towns scattered around the state. Near the old historic Quincy Mine north of Hancock, I saw these old forgotten houses. They are on US-41 in Franklin Township. I call them ghost houses because the area still has people living and working in it, but I assume these were old miners’ houses. The name of the town where these houses stand is or was Franklin Mine, named after the mine in the area. They look as if the historical society or someone is preserving them. The old houses make me wonder about the people who lived in the Keweenaw and worked in the mines. It must have been a hard life back in the day.
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