It’s been a while since I  had time to go on a road trip, so I took a short one north of Saginaw to see what I could find. North of U.S. 10 is mostly farmland and more farmland, with ranch style houses and more ranch style houses. I meandered along the back roads seeing what I could find.  Somewhere between Pinconning and Rhodes, I saw this old building and my first thought was ” I wonder what that is” then I saw the corner-stone Mt Forest Community Church 1933. I guess now I know what it is, and I found the old sawmill town of Mt Forrest, or at least what is left of it, an old church and a few houses.

Thank you for Subscribing to Lost In Michigan, If you have not subscribed yet, It would mean a lot to me if you did. 

Roaming around Michigan, I visit a lot of towns and cities. Hesperia is located along M-20 on the west side of the state at the southern part of the Manistee National Forest. The town was platted in 1866 and there are two stories of how Hesperia got its name. The first was that it was an Indian name for “beautiful gardens” since the area was once home to Indian tribes in the area. The second was that it was named from Hesperides in Greek Mythology, meaning “blissful garden”, located in the western part of Greece.

Thank you for Subscribing to Lost In Michigan, If you have not subscribed yet, It would mean a lot to me if you did. 

The sign on the side of this building reads THE WINN SHOPPING CENTER. It looks as if it has been a while since anyone has done any shopping at the shopping center. The small town of Winn west of Shepherd was started in 1867 and either named for Mr. Winn or for Wynn England. I have seen a reference to both. The Town was platted by Wiley Dush and he changed the name to Dushville. After Mr. Dush died in 1898 the name of the town was changed back to Winn.

Thank you for Subscribing to Lost In Michigan, If you have not subscribed yet, It would mean a lot to me if you did. 

Not a whole lot remains in downtown Alba these days. It was once a bustling community when the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad came through the area in the 1870s. The village was plated in 1878, and as legend has it, the town was named after Alba Haywood, a local entertainer. The town still gets a lot of traffic since US-131 passes through the old town and many motorists take Alba Road over to Gaylord.

I find it Ironic that the town was supposedly named after an entertainer because I remember the name of the town where I need to turn to go to Gaylord by the remembering the actress’s name Jessica Alba.

Thank you for Subscribing to Lost In Michigan, If you have not subscribed yet, It would mean a lot to me if you did. 

While out traveling around exploring the Mitten State I visit a lot of small towns and many of the post offices I see are a typical brick building. I assume there is a standard plan that the post office used when building them. On occasion, I come across one that is a little bit different than the ordinary post office. On my way to the White River Lighthouse north of Muskegon I came across this cute little white and green post office.  The area was originally called Sylvan Beach when it was settled in 1833. When the post office was established it was named Wabaningo after the local Ottawa Chief.  In the early 1900s, the area was primarily a resort community and the post office was made a branch of the Whitehall branch and is only open in the summer months.

Thank you for subscribing to Lost In Michigan, if you haven’t it would mean a lot to me if you did