Ghost towns Archives - Lost In Michigan

Good Harbor

Posted on November 9, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in autumn, General Store, Ghost towns .

The town of Good Harbor once stood along the shores of Lake Michigan between Glen Arbor and Leeland. In the 1860s H. D. Pheatt built a dock in Good Habor Bay to supply passing steamships with firewood. Over the next few decades, a couple of sawmills were built. The town had grown in population and had a hotel, general store, school, and some saloons. The interesting thing is Centerville and Cleveland townships boundary lines ran down the middle of Main Street in Good Harbor. Centerville did not allow saloons, so Good Harbor’s saloon was built on the Cleveland township side of the street.

In1905 the last remaining sawmill caught fire and burned down. Because most of the timber had been cut in the area the sawmill was not rebuilt. in the 1920a the old wood buildings still standing in the empty town were dismantled and the lumber used to build them was sold.

Not far away from where the town once stood, I saw this old building that looks as if it was a store at one time. I am not sure if it was standing in the time that Good Harbor was prosperous, but there is nothing left of the town. This old building is nearby and reminds me of the old sawmill town.

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A Michigan Ghost Town Church

Posted on November 1, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in autumn, Churches, Ghost towns .

This old church stands quietly in the town of Harlan located in northern Michigan east of Copemish. In the 1880s the railroad was originally going to go through the nearby town of Cleon. Because of the steep grades and sharp curves they decided to run through the town of Harlan instead. It gave the town a boost in population. Having several stores a blacksmith shop and a hotel, the town prospered until the railroad no longer stopped in the little town. By the 1950s most of the businesses had closed. Not much remains in Harlan but this old church and a few houses.

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The Lost and Found Michigan Ghost Town of Deward

Posted on October 1, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns .

The town of Deward northwest of Grayling had one of the largest sawmills in Michigan. The town was started in 1900 and named in honor of lumber baron David E. Ward. At one time it had a population of 800 people. It had a ferocious appetite for timber and after all the standing timber was logged off and cut into boards the sawmill closed in 1912 and the town died off. The buildings were dismantled and hauled away and the old sawmill was demolished leaving some concrete foundations.

Eventually, the trees grew back covering over the former townsite hiding it from view. If you know where to look you can still see the foundations and relics of the past. I felt like a modern-day Indiana Jones or Josh Gates, only without the hat, as I trekked through the forest looking for relics of the past.

I give exact locations in my Lost In Michigan books and not normally on the internet. Usually, with a little searching on google, you can find the locations of a lot of places but I had a difficult time finding the Deward ruins. I could find a lot of info about Deward, but the location seemed to be vague. I made three trips to the area until I finally found the lost town’s location. The maps show it near an intersection of Manistee River Road and Post Road. Actually, it is about a 1/4 mile south of there.

The best way to find the ruins is from county road 612. Take Manistee River Road north past West Cameron Bridge Road. About a mile and a half north of West Cameron Bridge Road you will see a two-track heading west with a small green sign with a binoculars symbol on it. Go down that road about 100 yards to a parking area. Take the trail down to the river. you will see an old wooden fence with concrete bases at each end left over from the sawmill. From the south base head into the woods about 50 yards and you will see the concrete foundations. You can’t miss them they are huge about the size of a pickup truck. The threaded rods sticking out of the top are about 2 or 3 inches in diameter. Whatever was mounted to them must have been massive.

During the summer you can get there in a car, but I would recommend a truck or SUV, especially in the spring and fall when it is raining a lot. If you want to get out and see something few people have seen, this as a great place to explore. You can see depressions in the ground where buildings once stood and there still is a dry ditch that I assume where logs were floated to the mill.

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The Pequaming Water Tower

Posted on September 28, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns, upper peninsula .

Driving north from the Upper Peninsula town of L’Anse along the Keweenaw bay it is hard to miss the water tower in Pequaming. Unlike most water towers that have the name of the town painted on it the one in Pequaming has the word FORD in the iconic font used by the Ford Motor Company. That is because at one time the town of Pequaming was Ford owned town with a massive sawmill that produced lumber for the model-t. You can see a remnant from the old sawmill on the left side of the photo is what remains of the old powerhouse. At one time Henry Ford had a summer residence in the town. As time went on Ford no longer need the lumber and closed the sawmill. The area is now mostly summer resort homes and a harbor for fishing boats.

You can read more about the town in Lost In Michigan Volume 3 available on Amazon HERE

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Michigan’s Forgotten Town of Allenville

Posted on August 8, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns, upper peninsula .

If you take M-123 to Tahquamenon Falls a few miles from I-75 is where the town of Allenville is or at least was. About all that remains is an old general store that stands on Brevort Lake Rd.

I have found two different origins for the name of the town. One says it was named after Allen P Hulbert the superintendent of the Martel Furnace Company that had charcoal kilns in the town. The other source is Wikipedia that said the town was named after J. Alley, head of the Alley Lumber Company, and was known as Alley Town. Which is correct I am not sure but like the town, its history is slowly fading away.

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Ghost Town of Tyre

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns, Thumb .

The old town of Tyre is in the middle of the Thumb not far from Ubly. It is not a ghost town like in the wild west movies, but the town has for the most part disappeared. It no longer shows up on the map and only a few houses remain. The town was founded in 1857 and given the name Tyre for its stony terrain. This old grain elevator slowly being overcome by trees still stands next to the railroad tracks.

An old cemetery nearby marks the graves of some of the former residents or should I say, permanent residents. Among the people laid to rest are the Sparling men who were murdered. The court case involving the accused became a national sensation. You can read about it in my post HERE.

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Ghost Town of Afton

Posted on May 30, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns .

The town of Afton may not be a true ghost town since there are a few houses and a beautiful little church still in the area but the row of old abandoned buildings sure makes it feel like a ghost town.

Located between Indian River and Onaway many people past through the little town on M-68. The town started as a lumber camp in 1887. In 1905 it was given a post office. The nearby Pigeon River was similar to the Afton River in Scotland and thus the town was named after it.

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The Ghost Town of Sauble

Posted on May 1, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns .

This old log cabin stands in the Huron Manistee National forest about 15 miles northwest of Baldwin. The hand-painted sign above the door reads “Sauble Station est 1937” The town started in 1898 with a depot on the Manistee and Grand Rapids railroad. A post office was opened up in the general store in 1910. I could not find anything that tells the story of the demise of the small sawmill town, but I can only assume the trees were cut by the lumberjacks. With no trees left for cutting up into lumber, the lumberjacks moved on and the town faded away.

This little log cabin stands along the road where the town once stood. I am not sure if is old enough to have been part of the town originally, but it is a reminder of the long-forgotten town in the western Michigan forest.

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Vickeryville

Posted on April 27, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places, Ghost towns, Grain Elevators .

The small town of Vickeryville is located in the central Lower Peninsula west of Carson City. It was plated in 1857 by John Vickery in Bloomer Township. The town was originally called West Bloomer but its name was changed to Vickeryville. The little town thrived at the turn of the century, ( yes I mean the early 1900s) but over time the little town declined. By 1953 the post office closed and not much remains of the little town today. A few houses and some old buildings. The most prominent building is the old grain elevator. It still has a faded sign that reads: CENTRAL BEAN AND GRAIN.

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The Herron Explosion

Posted on March 9, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places, Ghost towns .

It’s amazing the stories I find just by wondering about a couple of old buildings. I saw these two derelict structures that look like old general stores southwest of Alpena. Along with a few houses and a church they are what remains of the town of Herron. It was founded by Fred Herron in 1920 and given a post office named after him. Like most little towns I figured that was all I would find abut its history until I saw a snippet about a mine explosion.

On October 30th, 1952 five men were killed when a mine near Herron exploded. Six men were searching the long-abandoned gold mine for uranium. According to the only survivor John Pastuszka, two of the men went down the 180-foot deep shaft to check on water pumps being used to drain the shaft. The other three men were standing around the opening to the shaft when it suddenly exploded. Pastuszka was spared because he was standing next to a tool shed when the explosion occurred. It is believed methane gas and a spark from the pumps was the cause of the violent blast.

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