Ghost towns Archives - Page 3 of 8

The Ghost Town of Hagensville

Posted on November 2, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns .

After stopping at a roadside park to read about the devastating fire in the small town of Metz, northwest of Alpena. ( can read my post about Metz HERE) I wanted to go to the Presque Ilse Lighthouse (you can read my post HERE) and I knew it was northeast from where I was, so I just started heading north. A few miles from Metz I saw this old building that looked like it had been a boarding house, or saloon, or general store, or probably all the above. I stopped and got a pic but I really had no idea of where I was.

When I got home I found out on google maps that I was in Hagensville, or at least what was left of it. An old building and some modern day farms. According to records, I found the Post Office was open from 1886 to 1912 and that William Hagen was the first postmaster. He and Wilson Pines owned the local sawmill.

I can only imagine at the turn of the 20th century that travelers would stop by on their arduous journey across northern Michigan while at the turn of the 21st century travelers whizz by at 55 miles per hour, and if they blink, they will miss it.

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The Old Store in the Leelanau Peninsula

Posted on September 18, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in General Store, Ghost towns .

This old building stands in the Leelanau Peninsula not far from M-22. It is located where the town of Good Harbor once stood once stood along the shores of Lake Michigan between Glen Arbor and Leland. I am not sure if this building that looks like an old general store was part of the town but it looks as if it was built a long time ago.

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.

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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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The Ghost Town of Deward

Posted on May 25, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns .

This concrete block, with a metal eye in the top, sits along the Upper Manistee River. I think it was used by lumberjacks to pull logs from the river for the sawmill. It was part of the town of Deward northwest of Grayling. You can still find several concrete foundations and machinery supports. They are slowly being overtaken by the trees and vegetation. If you are looking for an adventure this spot in the state forest is a fun place to explore. You can read more about it on my post HERE

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The Ghost Town of Winona

Posted on May 18, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns, upper peninsula .

The town of Winona sits at the base of the Keweenaw Peninsula near the Twin Lakes. There are a few houses there but for the most part it is a ghost town. During its heyday in the 1920s, Winona had restaurants, a brewery, sports teams, churches, boarding houses, a train depot, a saloon, stores, boardwalks, a school, and a barber shop. The town of Winona sprung up around the mines that were started in 1864. The mine closed in 1923 and soon after the town began to dwindle and eventually almost everyone moved away. I saw this old building being consumed by the forest. I am not sure what it was, but its rather large, so maybe a store or boarding house.

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The Old Building in Pequaming

Posted on April 29, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in General Store, Ghost towns, upper peninsula .

This old building stands in the trees in the Upper Peninsula town of Pequaming. There is not much remaining in the town today but back in its heyday it the entire town was owned by the Ford Motor Company. It was a sawmill town making lumber for Model-T bodies. I am not sure what this old building was, maybe a general store or an old boarding house. It seemed kind of lonely and forgotten surrounded by trees.

You can read more about Pequaming in my other post HERE

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Lost In Pinnebog

Posted on April 25, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns, Thumb .

I saw this old building, or at least what is left of it in the town of Pinnebog. It’s located near the tip of the thumb on the Pinnebog River. It was started back in the 1840s as a lumbering town. Another sawmill town had the same name, but when they established a post office the town changed its name to Port Crescent. That is where the state park is now and is named after the former town.

Some of the buildings from Port Crescent were moved to Pinnebog. I am not sure if this one was one of them but maybe it could have been. There is only a few houses left in the small town and I am sure it has been a long time since it heard the whirring of saw blades at the sawmill.

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The Store in Herman

Posted on April 12, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns, upper peninsula .

This old building stands along the tracks that pass through the Upper Peninsula town of Herman. It is located a remotes section of the Huron Mountains southeast of L’Anse. The town was named for lumberjack Herman Keranen who took up farming in the area. Over the decades the population has dwindled and it is mostly a ghost town. I am not sure what this old building was but it looked like a store that was supplied by the railroad at one time.

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The Ghost Town of Waterville

Posted on February 24, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns, Mills .

This old mill sits near Saranac. 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 and 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 Forgotten Town and the Church

Posted on February 13, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Churches, Ghost towns .

This old brick church stands among the farm fields between Freeland and Bay City. A few modern houses and this old church are all that stand in the area of the old town of Amelith. Frederick Koch purchased two thousand acres of the former Saginaw Bay Chippewa Reserve at $1.25 an acre. In 1851 the first settlers arrived from the Bavarian town of Tosstel. In 1894 the town was given a post office and at one time the town included a coal mine, and a cheese factory, along with stores, mills, and saloons. By 1900 the mine had closed and immigration had ceased and the post office closed in 1904.

A historical mark proudly was proudly erected in front of the historic church and reads:

German missionary Pastor Ferdinand Sievers organized St. John Church in June 1852 to serve a colony of German migrants, some fleeing the turmoil that followed the European revolutions of 1848. Initially, the church met in a log cabin that once housed recent arrivals to the colony of Amelith. In 1870 a wood-frame Gothic style church was built. The present structure was completed in 1912. Schools run by the church began in 1853 with instruction in German surviving until World War I. Some church services continued in German until 1979. During World War II, German prisoners housed at Freeland Camp were ministered to by St. John Lutheran. An addition to the church was completed in 1997.

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