Ghost towns Archives - Page 2 of 8

The Ghost Town of Stratford

Posted on December 13, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns .

About five miles west of Higgins Lake along N. 13 Mile Road is a wooden sign for the long gone town of Stratford. The town started in 1897 when the Thayer Lumber Company purchased 13400 acres of virgin red and white pine The railroad laid tracks to the lumber town and hauled the logs out for twelve years. The population of Stratford grew to about 1200 people and had a hotel, general store and several saloons.

By 1908 the surrounding trees were gone and the workers and citizens abandoned the town. The region was purchased by the state in 1937. Nothing remains of the town but memories and signs placed to mark the location of some of the buildings. Down the road about a quarter mile is an ORV/snowmobile trailhead parking lot. Location of the town is a nice place to check out and wonder what it must have been like living there more than a century ago.

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The Town on the Other Side of the Bridge

Posted on November 6, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns .

I visited the old historic Fallasburg Covered Bridge a few years ago. I took some photographs of it and because I was short on time I did not drive across the wooden bridge. On a recent visit, I made the trip across the bridge and discovered a whole town of historic buildings and houses. Like the tower farmhouse built in the 1850s in the photo in this post. I guess from now on the next time I get to a bridge, especially a historic one, I am going to be sure to cross it and see what is on the other side.

If you enjoy reading my posts, I hope you will take a look at www.Lostinthestates.com website for posts about the other 49 states. You can see it HERE or my facbook page HERE

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The Ghost Town of Watson

Posted on September 1, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns, upper peninsula .

I found very little information on the town of Watson, even though the general store, a house, and a couple of buildings still remain standing in the long forgotten community. Watson is nestled in the south-east corner of Marquette County on road 426. Walter Romig’s Michigan Place Names say that it was a “mail distributing point” in the Watson Store Company prior to 1918. I wonder if that is the store that is still standing with the iconic IGA Super Market sign. There are a handful of people still living in the area and the Watson Bible Chapel is nearby. A set of railroad tracks run next to the road, but with the grass and trees growing up between the rails the train has not traveled down them in a long time. I am assuming after the train no longer stopped in Watson the people in the little town slowly moved away. It is a reminder of days gone by, and I hope it continues to stand for many years.

If you love exploring the Upper Peninsula, I hope you will take a look at my new book Lost In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula available on Amazon HERE

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Jacktown and the Cemetery

Posted on July 26, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery, Ghost towns .

The Bland Cemetery sits in the woods along County Line Rd./ Oviatt Rd. southeast of Empire in the Leelanau Peninsula. It is named the Bland Cemetery because many of the people buried in it have the last name of Bland. It is also shown on some maps as the Jacktown Cemetery and is what remains of the old railroad town. It was built along the tracks of the Empire and Southeastern Railroad.

It is rumored the town died off after the well went dry but it is more likely it disappeared after the railroad went out of business and the tracks were removed in the 1920s. In Larry Wakefield’s book Ghost Towns of Michigan. He tells the story of an elderly man looking for the long forgotten town in the woods. He found out that Oliver Bland who lived in the town had lost his wife and baby during childbirth and was institutionalized in the state mental hospital in Traverse City.

I visit a lot of old cemeteries and this is the first time I saw a small metal grave marker for an infant. It is sad to see a marker for a baby that only lived for a month. If you are into old cemeteries and out for an adventure be sure to check out the Bland Cemetery and who knows maybe you will see the spirit of Oliver Bland.

PS. If you like reading about Michigan ghost towns, be sure to check out Larry Wakefield’s books. They were published several years ago and many locations have changed since they were published but they are a fascinating read. You can see them on Amazon HERE but you could probably find them in a used book store.

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The Old Waterville Mill

Posted on June 12, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns, Grain Elevators .

Not far from the town of Saranac is an old mill with a sign on it that read Waterville Mill. It is all that remains of the old town of Waterville. In 1836 Robert Hilton from Grand Rapids purchased the large tract of land and platted a village he named Waterville. Hilton believed the town would prosper from people visiting it as they traveled along the Grand River Turnpike. To help the little town prosper he gave land to James Hoag to build a mill. In 1838 Hoag opened his mill and store and it became the post office for Waterville. Unfortunately, the turnpike never came through the little town. About a year after the post office opened it was moved to Saranac. The old mill with its whimsically painted boards covering the windows still stands as a reminder of the short lived town of Waterville. Hoag continued living in Waterville and ran his mill until a tree fell on him and killed him in 1851.

Please note: I do not give the exact location of the mill because it is privately owned. If you do know where it is please be respectful and do not trespass.

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The Doctor’s House

Posted on June 9, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns, Houses, State Parks .

I love exploring the historic Fayette ghost town in the Upper Peninsula. I especially like that they buildings are open for visitors to explore. There is one that is secluded in the woods outside of town that was used as the Doctor’s House.

Curtis J. Bellows MD, was a Civil War veteran from Ohio. He came to Fayette in 1870 and practiced medicine in Upper Peninsula town until his death in 1882. He was a popular public speaker, raced horses and studied electricity. He must have been an interesting character in the remote iron smelting town. Visitors can tour the home and see the way the doctor lived back in the town’s heyday.

If you love exploring the Upper Peninsula I hope you will take a look at my new book Lost In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula available on Amazon HERE

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The Nonesuch Mine

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns, upper peninsula .

The Porcupine Mountains in the western Upper Peninsula is the largest state park in Michigan. It is known for its hiking trails, waterfalls, and the Lake Of The Clouds. But few people know that hidden among the trees are the ruins of an old mining town. It also has an old stone lined shaft that sinks into the ground. It is rather spooky how it curves out of a hill and I can not imagine descending down into the earth from it. The hole is fence off now but you can still see it in the forest of the Porkies

Nonesuch is a type of copper ore that exists in sandstone and the town was named after the ore. Mining began in 1867 and ended in 1912.At its peak, the town had a population of 300 people and besides the mining buildings, it had a school, boarding houses, stables, and even a baseball team. Today stone walls can be found in the area where the town once stood. I also found some old cast iron machine parts including a large gear half-buried in the ground and held in place by a tree root.

The ruins can be found near the Little Iron River. A parking lot can be found off South Boundary Road with a trail that is about a half-mile long that will take you to the ruins. To find the parking lot drive straight south of the visitor center. A short road keeps going south where South Boundary Road curves to the west. Down that short road, you will find a small parking lot and an informational sign for the town of Nonesuch.

If you love exploring the Upper Peninsula I hope you will take a look at my new book Lost In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula available on Amazon HERE

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Butternut

Posted on March 24, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places, Ghost towns, small towns .

The small town of Butternut, or what remains of it, stands in central Michigan west of Carson City. It was founded in 1888 and believed to be named after a butternut cheese factory. It was once a prosperous town with a population of over 200 people. The town’s prosperity came from its location on the Toledo, Saginaw & Muskegon Railroad, which allowed for the easy transport of lumber and minerals. However, the town’s fortunes declined in the early 1900s when the railroad was abandoned. By the 1930s, Butternut was a ghost town and today only a few buildings and a couple houses still stand in the area.

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Sac Bay

Posted on January 18, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns, upper peninsula .

Sac Bay is in the Garden Peninsula south of Fayette in the Upper Peninsula. It is a small bay on the shores of Big Bay De Noc and a town of the same name was started in 1853. It was given a post office in 1860, but was closed after a post office was opened in Fayette. This old building stands across from an old farm where the town once stood. It looks as if it was a general store at one time and then it had a metal addition added to it. There is a little county park along the bay and it is a nice quiet place to visit if you are at Fayette.

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A Ghost Town Bridge

Posted on January 8, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns, Thumb .

Nestled among the trees and over a small creek is an old iron truss bridge. The sign hanging from the top beams reads: MICHIGAN BRIDGE AND PIPE CO. LANSING MICHIGAN. You can see the old bridge from M-25 near Port Austin and it was part of the old sawmill town of Port Crescent. The town started back in 1844 when Walter Hume built a hotel and trading post near the mouth of the Pinnebog River. A few sawmills sprang up in the area around the river and the town was known as Pinnebog but another town upriver had the same name. It was decided to change the name of the town to Port Crescent for the crescent shape the river made as it flowed into the Saginaw Bay.

The lumber town continued to thrive and even survived the Great Fire of 1871. Woods and Company built a large steam-powered sawmill with a brick smokestack that soared into the sky. The town had several houses and even built a large two-story schoolhouse to educated the children. By 1881 the lumberjacks had cut most of the timber, and what was still standing, was mostly destroyed by the great fire that swept through the thumb. Slowly houses and buildings were moved or dismantled and taken to the surrounding towns such as Port Austin and Bad Axe. By 1894 all the buildings were gone and very little remained of the once prosperous town. The trees were gone, but a few people realized the sand was valuable for glass making and copper smelting and began mining and shipping the sand around the Great Lakes.

By the 1930s sand mining operations have ceased and that would have been the end of the land being used for anything. After WWII and the prosperity that followed Michigan families began vacationing during the summer. The state of Michigan acquired the property along the shoreline in 1959 and established the Port Crescent State Park. Little remains of the town of Port Crescent. The old bridge is used for a hiking trail and the foundation for the sawmill chimney stands near the entrance to the campground. Next time you visit Port Crescent State Park, or drive past the sign for it on M-25, maybe you will remember the town and the hard-working lumberjacks who lived there.

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