October 2025 - Lost In Michigan

The Smoke Stack in Big Bay

Posted on October 23, 2025 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Mills, upper peninsula .

This smoke stack rises into the sky next to Lake Independence near the town of Big Bay in the Upper Peninsula. It was part of the Big Bay Ford Sawmill and holds a unique place in the history of Ford Motor Company’s operations. Henry Ford, aiming for complete vertical integration and self-sufficiency in automobile manufacturing, acquired over 313,000 acres of timberland in the UP. In 1943, he purchased the existing sawmill in Big Bay, which had previously belonged to the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company and was once famous for producing most of the country’s bowling pins. Ford refurbished and reopened the factory to manufacture wood panels for his popular “Woody Wagons.” However, Ford’s involvement in Big Bay went far beyond just the mill; in 1943, he purchased not only the sawmill and power plant but nearly every other building in the town, effectively turning Big Bay into a Ford company town.

Big Bay became a personal retreat for Henry and Clara Ford, as well as a popular vacation spot for company executives. Ford personally oversaw changes to the town’s layout, even having certain houses and the local Catholic church relocated to improve his view of the sawmill from the remodeled company store (which he converted into the Big Bay Hotel, now the Thunder Bay Inn). Ford’s vision for Big Bay, however, was short-lived. The lumbering venture proved unprofitable, and the Ford Motor Company abandoned the operations and sold its assets shortly after Henry Ford’s death in 1947, closing the mill around 1951. Despite its brief run as a Ford company town, the legacy of the Big Bay Ford Sawmill and the town’s connection to the industrialist remain a significant part of the community’s history.

I tried to dive to the sawmill but the road leading to it was private. You can see the smoke stack from Perkins Park and Campground just outside of Big Bay.

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The Haunted Cells of Boyne Falls

A truly unique piece of history—and perhaps a local haunting—stands in a park in Boyne Falls, Michigan. Right next to the playground equipment, you’ll find an old iron jail cell dating back to the village’s wild lumbering days.

This small lockup was once necessary to temporarily hold the region’s notoriously rowdy lumberjacks. Today, however, it’s rumored that some of those former “residents” never truly left.

The old jail cell is said to be haunted. Local folklore suggests that on some nights, visitors can spot glowing orbs of light floating within the iron bars. These spectral lights are rumored to be the trapped spirits of the past inmates.

Whether the cell is genuinely haunted or just a spooky piece of local lore, it definitely serves as an interesting and chilling historical artifact right in the middle of a modern park.

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Americana

Posted on October 16, 2025 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Barns and Farms .

Driving the back roads near Linwood, I stumbled upon a fantastic sight: a barn absolutely covered in vintage signs. It was a roadside gallery of genuine Americana, complete with old gas pumps and even a classic pay phone booth. The whole scene was a powerful jolt of nostalgia, instantly transporting me back to my childhood.

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A Girl’s Headstone and the Aging Photo

Posted on October 13, 2025 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery, Haunted Places, upper peninsula .

West of Newberry, the Forrest Home Cemetery holds a peculiar and poignant memorial. It is an old headstone featuring a purple glass bubble.

This unique stone marks the grave of a young girl who passed away many years ago, just six years and six months old. Her grieving parents embedded a photograph of her within the purple bubble.

Local legend claims that the photograph inside the glass has aged over time. While it’s more likely that the image has decayed with the passage of years, the headstone remains a compelling and interesting sight. It serves as a quiet place to pause and pay your respects to the young life lost too soon. The tombstone can be found near the road by the western entrance of the cemetery.

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Tobacco Ranch and the Purples

Posted on October 7, 2025 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places, Houses .

Driving into downtown Clare I passed by a large gate for the Tobacco Ranch behind it was a large stone house that I took a pic of from the gate. The property is now used as an entertainment venue for weddings and events.

The ranch has a famous, and dark, history tied to organized crime. In the 1930s, the property’s main house was built by Isaiah Leebove, an attorney with connections to the notorious Purple Gang out of Detroit. Leebove fled New York to Clare and built the grand ranch-style home, which features stone pillars and multiple fireplaces, to entertain guests including mobsters and oil barons.

Leebove’s life was cut short on May 14, 1938, when he was gunned down at the Doherty Hotel tap room by his business partner and fellow Purple associate, Carl “Jack” Livingston. The murder stemmed from a dispute over 45 acres of land Leebove refused to sell for oil drilling, compounded by Livingston’s fear that Leebove was planning to have him killed.

Following the murder, the ranch sat empty for years, with people trespassing in search of rumored stashed money. In 1980, Leo and Glenna Beard purchased the dilapidated property and spent three years renovating it to make it habitable. Mrs. Beard later confirmed a local legend that an escape tunnel existed on the property, running from the house toward the Tobacco River bank, though it has since collapsed.

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A Private Ghost Town

Posted on October 3, 2025 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns .

While I was out roaming the back roads north of Owosso, I came across the collection of buildings. It looks like someone’s private ghost town. I did not roam around on their property but I did get this pic from the road. It’s a nice looking place and something I was not expecting to see out in “farm country”

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