Mike Sonnenberg, Author at Lost In Michigan

The Boat In The Park

Posted on August 10, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ships and Boats .

I drove through Harbor Springs this summer and it has been a while since I was there. Right away I noticed a strange looking dark blue boat on display in the park. I had to stop and check it out.

The boat was named the “Aha” and built by inventor Ephraim Shay. He lived in Harbor Springs and his house stands across the road from the park. The boat was designed by Shay and built at his machine shop. It’s long an narrow hull made it one of the fastest boats at the time.

While being towed to storage in the 1930s the empty hull of the Aha took on water and was beached near Sucker Creek in the present day Wilderness State Park. The old boat sat there for decades slowly rusting and being used for target practice by hunters.

In 2003, the hull was brought back to Harbor Springs were it sat in storage. In 2019, it was trucked to Onaway and restored by the students at the Industrial Arts Institute. After restoring and repainting the hull the Aha was put on display at the park on the town were it was built.

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Upcoming Presentations

Posted on August 8, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in presentations .

I have some presentations about my travels around Michigan coming up. I hope you are in the area and can make it to one of them. Here is a list of dates and locations

Tamarack library in Lakeview September, 13 at 6pm Please Note: If you are thinking of attending please call the library at 989-352-6274 to reserve your seat.

832 S Lincoln Ave, Lakeview, MI 48850

St Clair Shores September 26 at 6:30pm

St. Clair Shores Public Library

22500 E Eleven Mile Rd, St Clair Shores, MI 48081

West Bloomfield library Thursday October 27th at 7pm

4600 Walnut Lake Rd, West Bloomfield Township, MI 48323

Schoolcraft College Livonia April, 14th 2023

more info coming soon

The Playhouse In the Woods

This log cabin sits on a hill in the Highland Recreation Area off M-59. It was constructed as the carriage house and chauffer’s living quarters for Edsel Ford’s Haven Hill Lodge that that stood nearby. The Chauffer ended up living in the lodge and Edsel’s children used the carriage house as a playhouse. The main lodge burned down in a fire several years ago. You can read about it in my post HERE

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Delicious and Refreshing

Posted on August 4, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost Murals .

The north branch of the Kalamazoo River flows through downtown Albion. This building hangs over the river and I marveled at the mural painted on the side. I like seeing the old advertising murals. It’s rare to see a new advertising mural, mostly it’s just billboards with their digital signs illuminating something you can’t read as you pass by at 70mph. Sometimes newer is not better.

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The Log Cabin and the Co-op Community

Posted on August 2, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses, upper peninsula .

The Alva Kepler log cabin in Manistique’s Pioneer Park next to the water tower. The rustic house dates back to the 1880’s and was once part of the Byers’ settlement in Hiawatha Township, 12 miles north of Manistique. The cabin was part of the cooperative community known as the “Hiawatha Village Association.” It was formed in the 1890s when people were struggling from an economic depression at the time. About two hundred people agreed to turn over there assets to the community and live in the village. They had about 225 residents the first year and grew crops and made goods to sell in Milwaukee.

After the first year they were not successful because they could not sell there crops and the cost to ship the products they made were more than they could sell them fore. When Alva Kepler and his brother John were supposed to move into the village the following year they sued to withdraw from the community. Shortly afterwards many other people sued and the homes and items were split up among the members ending the short lived experiment.

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The Haunted Ghost Town of Iva

Posted on July 31, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns, Haunted Places .

I found out about the old town of Iva north of Hemlock, in Richland Township, on the corner of Iva and Dice roads and I had to take a trip to see it since I don’t live far away. (Click HERE, if you wanna know where I live). I was expecting to find a few houses, but when I got there, I found this beautiful old building that looked like it used to be a general store. According to records, the post office in Iva opened December 7th 1894 with John F. Shovan as its first postmaster. The post office closed in October of 1904. I could not find any other information about the town, but I can only assume it was another lumbering town that existed until the trees were gone, and then the lumberjacks moved away becoming a farming community. I would think some of the residence of Iva who died are buried in the cemetery on Dice Road.

The general store was featured in a documentary by Haunted Saginaw HERE

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Shelter at Black Lake

Posted on July 29, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in State Parks .

Onaway State Park sits on the southern shoreline of Black Lake. At the western edge of the park a trail leads from the boat launch along the lake to a stone shelter that over looks the lake. It is a nice little hike through the trees for a nice view overlooking the water.

While I was there I noticed a little American flag and a stone memorial next to the shelter. It reads: In Memory of Al Sutton Park Ranger 1993 to 2002 Onaway State park.

Thank you to all the rangers. While I am at a park, I am on vacation and enjoying nature and you are there working to keep things running for all of us trying to relax.

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The Light In The Storm at Frankfort

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses .

The light at the end of the north breakwater in Frankfort is rather peculiar looking than your traditional round light tower. The four sided tower used to stand at the end of the pier until the breakwater was constructed in the 1930’s then the tower was moved to the end of the breakwater. Rather than just placing it on the end a two story structure was constructed for the tower to stand on giving it a unique look.

If you’re wondering, yes I got a little wet taking some pics of the lighthouse, or in this case, just the light since the house is gone now. I don’t mind being out in the storm taking pics of lighthouses and to be honest I kind of prefer it. The purpose of a lighthouse is the be there standing tall and resolute no matter how harsh and unkind the weather may be.

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The Keystone Bridge

Posted on July 25, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Bridges, upper peninsula .

The small town of Ramsay sits a few miles east of Bessemer. One of Michigan’s largest and oldest stone bridges can be found there. The keystones at the peak of the arch stand 57 feet above the Black River. The bridge was constructed in 1891 by Chicago and Northwest Railroad at a cost of $48,322. The tracks above it are gone and it has been a long time since any trains traveled over the bridge but it still looks as good as the day it was first constructed.

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Easy In Silverwood

Posted on July 23, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in small towns, Thumb .

The small town of Silverwood sits in the Thumb between Mayville and Marlette. I always thought the name sounds like something from a TV western or movie. It was not the first name of the town. When the railroad was built through here in 1882, the residents applied for a post office. One suggested naming it something easy to remember, and the post office named “Easy” and opened on 13 April 1882. I am not sure why but in 1890 The name changed to “Rollo” and changed again in 1892 to “Silverwood”, after the nearby stands of white pine.

P.S. There is a nice old building in town that is used as a store. For years I have been trying to get a nice pic of it but every time I am in the area, there are a bunch of cars parked in front of it. So instead, I took a pic of this building. I am not sure what it was but the stone at the top reads. H. C. BEARUP 1896.

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