Ghost towns Archives - Page 4 of 8

Glen Haven

The village of Glen Haven is a few miles west of Glen Arbor in the Sleeping Bear Dunes. The town started out as a place for steamships to stock up on firewood to fuel the steam boilers. Over time the town became more of a resort community. By the mid 1970s it had pretty much declined to nothing. The National Park Service has taken over the little town and restored the blacksmith shop and general store. The old cannery is now used as a maritime museum. During the winter months it is rather quiet but in the summer it is bustling with tourists exploring and learning about days gone by.

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Bell Cemetery

Posted on November 12, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery, Ghost towns .

The old Bell Cemetery is in the Besser Natural Area north of Alpena. The old cemetery is the eternal home of some of the residents of the ghost town of Bell. I am not sure what year the last burial took place but I am thinking it was a while ago. The sign above the entrance reads that the cemetery was restored in 1989 by the Presque Isle Lions.

The thing that I found interesting is that the crosses and headstones are cast out of concrete. It is not surprising that concrete was used because the area is one of the largest producers of cement. I wonder if the crosses and headstones were cast and placed during the 1989 restoration. It took me a while to find this unique cemetery but If you want to find it the cemetery is located almost directly west of the parking lot down a two-track trail. If you want to know more about the ghost town of Bell check out my post HERE.

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The Hard Scrabble Ghost Town of Keno

Posted on November 1, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns .

I went past this old building and I am not sure if it was a school, boarding house, or what. It looks like it has been standing for a long time but it has been a while since it was used for anything. I saw it while I was heading north from St Helen. I looked on the map and it shows the name of Keno. I am wondering if it is the last remaining structure from the forgotten town.

From the research I did, I found out that the area was originally known as Hard Scrabble. The Hyde family came to the area from Virginia and were early settlers. The town was given the name of Keno and Sarah O. Wheeler became the first postmaster in 1910. I am not sure what happened to the town in later years, I can only assume the timber was cut and lumberjacks moved away.

P.S. They should have kept the name Hard Scrabble. I am thinking no one would forget a town with such a tough-sounding name.

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Hagensville Ghost Town

Posted on October 25, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns .

This old building stands north of Alpena and is surrounded by farmland. From what I found on the map I can only assume it was part of the town of Hagensville. 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.

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The Ghost Town of McClure

Posted on October 10, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns .

In the farmlands in the center of the state, northeast of Gladwin, stands an old church on a lonely dirt road. The people of the little lumber town of McClure worshiped in the wooden church. It’s about all that’s left of the town named after lumber baron William C. McClure who built a sawmill in 1883. After the trees were cut down it became a sleepy little farming community, and the church, which is now the Lighthouse Prayer Chapel, still marks the spot where the town once stood. I always think of how hard it must have been for the farmers to pull stumps from the fields. Before the giant hydraulic equipment we have today, it must have been extremely difficult backbreaking work.

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The Ghost Town of Onominese

Posted on August 17, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery, Ghost towns .

Rows of white wooden crosses stand in a simple cemetery near Lake Michigan. The people laid to rest under them is all that remains of Onominese. A small Indian village named after the Indian Chief Onominese. ( also spelled Onominee) The town was about five miles north of Leland, in the Leelanau Peninsula on Lake Michigan. The people that lived there mostly traveled to the town by canoe as there were no roads that led to the village.

Reverend Smith traveled through crude forest trails almost every Sunday from Northport to conduct church services. A small schoolhouse was built after the Civil War ended in 1865. Besides bringing religion and education to the native Americans the white man brought an epidemic of smallpox and diphtheria that killed off most of the small village’s population. It is the white crosses of those that died which stand in the field near Lake Michigan to tell the story of the small Indian village that once was.

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Judd’s Corner

Posted on August 14, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns .

Known more recently as Juddville, Judd’s Corners a few miles north of Owosso was first settled in 1853 when Connecticut native John Judd purchased 400 acres of land encompassing this area from the Hazelton brothers, who owned much of the township. A log school was erected in 1854, where Judd’s eldest daughter, Jane, taught. Over the next two decades a thriving community developed. In 1879, Judd’s Corners received a post office. By 1881 the village had a sawmill, blacksmith shop, general store, a creamery and two churches. Population, which peaked in the mid-1880s at about 175 people, began declining by the 1900s. The school that survives today, built in 1903, was originally faced with brick. The school and the Adventist and Methodist Episcopal churches are reminders of a once-thriving community.

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Porcupine Mountain Ghost Town of Nonesuch

Posted on August 11, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns, Michigan State Parks, 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. 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 Boundry 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 Boundry 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 visit please stay on the paths and do not mess with the crumbling walls so they will remain open to visitors.

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P.S. I am a State Parks Photo Ambassador and if you love Michigan State Parks be sure to follow their Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/MiStateParks

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The Glen Haven General Store

Posted on April 1, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in General Store, Ghost towns .

This old General Store stands in the town of Glen Haven. It is kind of a ghost town in the fact that no one lives there anymore. It is part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. I have seen this old store many times. Maybe someday I will get a chance to go inside and check it out. I tend to visit Sleeping Bear Dunes out of season when everything is closed up for the winter. I like the peace and quiet when nobody is around but that means a lot of places are closed to tourists.

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The Ghost Town of Podunk

Posted on March 3, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns .

Yes, there is a town in Michigan called Podunk. Actually, there are a couple of towns, in a few different counties called Podunk. This old schoolhouse in the forgotten town of Podunk is a few miles northwest of Gladwin. I could not find any info about the town other than the name and location, I am guessing it was an old logging camp, but it’s only a guess.

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