Sleeping Bear Dunes Archives - Lost In Michigan

Empire Lumber Mill Ruins

On warm sunny days in the summertime you will find several beachgoers enjoying Lake Michigan at the beach in Empire. Next to the playground is a large concrete block and out of the top of it are large metal rods. It is the remnants of the Empire Lumber Company that operated from 1887 to 1917. George Aylsworth operated the first mill between 1873 and 1883. Potter and Struthers built a second mill in 1885, which T. Wilce Company purchased in 1887 and named it the Empire Lumber Company. The mill grew to be one of the largest and best equipped hardwood mills in the area, capable of producing up to twenty million feet of lumber a year. The mill was destroyed by fire in 1906, but was quickly rebuilt. The mill burned again in 1917. With most of the nearby virgin timber gone, the mill was not rebuilt and this concrete blocks stand as a reminder to tourists of the towns lumbering past.

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Treat’s Farm

South of Empire where Norconk Road makes a sharp bend about a mile west of M22 is the Treat Farm Trail. The trail is not posted but it is part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore. It is along the trail that you will find an old farm. It is not abandoned but maintained by the National Park Service.

The farm was originally started in the 1840s by John Tweddle. After living in a log cabin on the property for decades he built the current farm house in the 1880s. In 1912 Charles Treat and his wife, Martha bought the farm and raised their family on the remote countryside along Lake Michigan. The barn on the property was purchased near Detroit by Charles and he had is disassembled and shipped by rail to Empire. The pieces where transported by horses to the farm and reassembled.

Charles Treat’s education was in engineering and he used his knowledge on his farm. The house did not have running water. He tried drilling a well but it was plugged with sand. He set up a set of eve troughs on the house to collect rainwater in a cistern for the house. He also experimented with concrete making a root cellar in the side of the hill and a unique concrete domed garage. Eventually the property became part of Sleeping Bear Dunes and is open to hikers to explore and a trail leads up to a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan.

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The Kraitz Cabin

Posted on June 26, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses, Sleeping Bear Dunes .

This little log cabin sits in the woods off Bohemian Road near School Lake. It was constructed by Francis Kraitz around 1856. He came to the North Unity area to escape the typhoid epidemic sweeping through Chicago. The cabin was originally built further south near St. Joseph Catholic Church. In 1945 John Kraitz (3rd generation) moved the house to a site beside School Lake and just a few years later, moved it across the road to its current location. The park service took ownership of the cabin in 2013. I had a few additions added on to it over the years including green siding. Recently it has been restored to its original construction. I am not sure what the plans are for the future of the cabin but it sure looks peaceful surrounded by the northern Michigan forest.

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Glen Haven

Posted on February 10, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost towns, Sleeping Bear Dunes, small towns .

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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Ken-Tuck-U-Inn

Posted on February 21, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places, Sleeping Bear Dunes .

If you have ever visited the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and driven down M-22, you probably marveled at the natural beauty as I have. Several historic houses and buildings can also be seen on M-22. In the southern part of the National Lakeshore nestled in the woods not far from the road is a light yellow house. It was built by Bertie and Donna Bancroft in the late 1920s as a boarding house for travelers visiting the area. On Sundays, the inn was a popular destination for tourists to enjoy one of Donna’s chicken dinners. During the peak season in summer, she would serve over 100 tourists using the chickens she raised at the inn. Bertie lived in this house until his death in 1963. Donna died the following year. The historic old house is now part of the National Lakeshore and is maintained by the National Park Service.

Bertie and Donna Bancroft cam from the nearby town of Aral which is a ghost town. you can read about it in my post HERE

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Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes Boekelodge

Posted on September 19, 2018 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places, Houses, Sleeping Bear Dunes .

The Boekelodge is in the southern part of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The cabin was originally built in the 1930’s and then left abandoned after a few years. In 1945, the cabin was purchased by the Boekeloo family and updated. A canal was dug from the plat river to flood the low-lying areas for a cranberry bog. The cabin overlooks a pond and is now owned by the National Park Service. A seasonal road off M-22 leads back to the cabin where you can hike the area including a trail that goes to Lake Michigan. It’s a lesser-known part of the National Lakeshore, and you have to know where to find Boekeloo Road, since there is no sign along M-22 telling visitors there is a lodge hidden in the woods. You can find more info and a detailed location of the Boekelodge and many other interesting locations in the Lost In Michigan book available on Amazon HERE

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