I am back from my trip to the Upper Peninsula. 1450 miles, 750 photos, 10 days, 3 lighthouses 2 state parks, and an island (probably not the one you are thinking) along with countless bugs splatted on the front of my jeep. I Have lots of great stuff to share and new places I visited. Yes, I was socially distant, not many people go to where I go, and I am fine with that. I like the peace and quiet.

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

Almost a quarter century ago a rag tag group of rebel soldiers went up against the most powerful empire in the world. People said they had a snowballs chance in H E double hockey sticks chance of beating the Redcoats.

Since winning our independence this country has ben through a lot. Massive flooding, nationwide protests for change and deadly diseases and that is only the first six months of this year. Americans can do anything when we work together.

We have sent astronauts to the moon and brought them back home safely. We bridged the two peninsulas and defeated the Nazis. I am not sure what will happen next but hopefully we will come together and help each other.

Thank you for taking the time to read my posts. I hope it brings you a little joy, knowledge or inspiration each day.

P.s.  I am finishing up my travels around the eastern side of the Upper Peninsula. I have lots of great stuff to share with you when I get back home and to some reliable internet.

Hey everyone, I know this is not my normal post and I will be getting back to sharing places from around Michigan. I wanted to let you know that Amazon has a promotion that if you purchase 3 books in a special category you can get one of the books for FREE. Lost in Michigan Volume 1 is one of the books in the 3 for the price of 2 category.

I know many of you already have Lost In Michigan book and I thank you very much. But there are a lot of great Michigan books available to choose from. If you are looking for books to explore Michigan this summer. You can see the books available HERE There is a search bar where you can search for Michigan books available for the special deal.

Some of the qualifying books are

Lost In Michigan: History and Travel Stories from an Endless Road Trip

Michigan Day Trips

Under The Radar First 50

Waterfalls of Michigan

100 Things to Do in the Upper Peninsula Before You Die

Spooky Michigan: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore

Little Michigan: A Nostalgic Look at Michigan’s Smallest Towns

Stuck in Manistique

Michigan Rocks & Minerals: A Field Guide

Moon Michigan (Travel Guide)

What’s Great about Michigan? (Our Great States)

Cheers to Michigan: A Celebration of Cocktail Culture and Craft Distillers

Lake Superior Agates: Your Way to Easily Identify Agates

Agate Hunting Made Easy: How to Really Find Lake Superior Agates

Birds of Michigan Field Guide

M Is For Mitten: A Michigan Alphabet

The Michigan Murders

Canoeing Michigan Rivers: A Comprehensive Guide

Butterflies of Michigan Field Guide

Terror in Ypsilanti: John Norman Collins Unmasked

Paddle-to-the-Sea

29 Missing: The True and Tragic Story of the Disappearance of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald

Good Night Michigan

To get the offer you need to add 3 qualifying items to the shopping cart and Amazon will give you one for FREE at checkout. ( note: only select items qualify for the promotion)  I am not sure when the promotion will end, but I thought I would let you know about it.

If you would like to support your local book store, you can see a list of stores that sell Lost In Michigan books HERE

Walking around downtown Ann Arbor, from a distance, I saw the tower on this building which I thought was an old church, but then as I got closer I noticed the doors on the front and then realized it was an old fire station.  It is now the the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum but above the doors carved into the stonework, it reads “Engine House 1882”. it’s easy to imagine the horses coming out of those doors pulling a steam pumper galloping down the Ann Arbor streets off to fight a fire. The bell tower was used to summon volunteer fireman to the fire station to fight a fire. The fire department moved out of the old firehouse in the 1970s.

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

Although it is in the middle of the lower peninsula about 30 miles from Lansing it sure felt like the middle of nowhere to me. Located somewhere between Potterville and Vermontville the Gresham United Methodist Church has unique looking steeple and stands quietly surrounded by miles of farmland. The historical marker gives a little bit of history and reads:

Members of the Gresham United Methodist Church first worshipped in a school and in homes. In 1879, Palmer and Rebecca McDonald gave this site on which to build a church. In order to erect the church, people in the community donated logs which were cut at Dade Merriam’s sawmill. The building’s pointed arch windows and steeply pitched roof exemplify the prevalence of Gothic Revival elements in rural church architecture. The church was completed in 1881.

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

I guess summer has officially started here in Michigan but with the current state of things I have not left my immediate neighborhood in a few months. I have underlying health conditions and it would not be a good idea to put myself or others at risk. I hoping I will be able to travel some this summer and most likely to places up north away from lots of people. I still have a lot of photos in my archive to share but I hope to get out and explore new places.

I don’t know what the next few months will be like but I hope to as time goes on things will get better. It may be a little while until I get back up north but I am sure the sun is rising over Lake Huron and setting over Lake Michigan. The water is still flowing down the rivers in the Upper Peninsula. This is a pic of the Lower Silver Falls near L’Anse, I wish I was there now but I will be back.

P.S. I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my cemetery pics last week in honor of Memorial Day. I am looking forward to sharing some other places with you this summer.

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

Michigan has some beautiful Queen Anne Victorian-style houses and the Heather House is one of the finest in the state. Located in Marine City on Main Street it looks out at the St. Clare River watching the enormous steel freighters passing by.  Construction of the home was finished in 1885 by retired ship’s captain William Sauber who emigrated to Marine City from Germany. He worked in the shipyards and became general manager of the Marine Sugar Co., but I can imagine him sitting on the front porch watching the old wooden steamers going by and longing for the days sailing on the Great Lakes. You can find out more about the grand old house on their website HERE

Lost In Michigan books are ON SALE this weekend at Amazon to learn more click HERE

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

St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church was established in 1889 by Slovenian immigrants who came to the area to work in the mines of the Copper Country. The wood frame church in Calumet erected by the parish in 1890 was destroyed by fire in 1902. The following year this elegant Romanesque church, designed by Erhard Brielmater of Milwaukee, was begun. It was completed at a cost of $100,000 in 1908. Built of locally-quarried Jacobsville sandstone, the structure displays Cathedral-type stained glass windows from the Ford Brothers Glass Studio of Minneapolis. Its interior features a beautifully painted sixty-five foot nave. In 1966 four parishes consolidated, making this building their church and changing its name to St. Paul the Apostle.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s out there who work so hard to protect and care for their children no matter how old they are. (the kids, not the moms)  In case you missed it be sure to check out my post on the history of Mother’s Day and how Albion Michigan was one of the inspirations for it. you can see my post HERE

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I love the look of this former church in Ovid with its decorative woodwork and its unique one of a kind steeple. It is also amazing that they moved this church to its current location from a different part of town. It is surprising the facts you can learn from historical markers like the one that stands next to this church and reads:

On February 13, 1871, twenty-two persons began Ovid’s First Congregational Church. The next year this structure was erected. George Fox served as master carpenter. Its first minister was the Reverend William Mulder. Originally located at High and Park Street, the church was pulled here by oxen in 1899 and turned to face Main Street. It was enlarged for a growing congregation, which came to be “one of the most powerful social forces in the county.”In 1943, Ovid’s Congregational and Methodist societies merged, using both their buildings until 1972. In 1979, the church became a private residence. This Ovid landmark, whose octagonal belfry tower holds a melodious 1876 bell, is listed on the Historic American Buildings Survey and the National Register of Historic Places.

P.S. I wish the powerlines were not crossing in front of it. There many beautiful buildings I have photographed on my travels around the state and the powerlines are crossing in front. I have photoshopped them out in some photos but it would be a lot for me to do it in this one and I have other pics of this church but I wanted to share this one from my archive since I have not been traveling.

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Northeast of Ann Arbor on Plymouth Road is the small town of Dixboro. In 1824, retired sea Captain John Dix purchased about 500 acres of land. He built a house and a sawmill and then plotted a section of land that became the town of Dixboro. The little village was growing quickly until the railroad decided to lay tracks through Ypsilanti instead of Dixboro.

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