Time to pick Michigan’s favorite state park for 2014. I have not visited all of them. but a lot of them, to pic the best is going to be hard to do, but I thought it would be fun to try. There are about 80 state parks not including historic and scenic sites. I broke
Search Results for: state park
On US-12 in the town of Somerset Center is McCourtie Park. The park has some wonderful concrete bridges that span a little creek which flows through the park. A Historical marker tells the stories of these bridges and the park: Somerset Center native W. H. L. McCourtie (1872 – 1933) was introduced to the cement
Last week I took a trip across the Upper Peninsula and I stopped at a roadside park on US-2 near Iron River. The historical marker in the park notes that it is the first roadside park in Michigan and reads: In 1918 the Iron County Board of Supervisors approved the recommendation of the road commission,
I drove through Harbor Springs this summer and it has been a while since I was there. Right away I noticed a strange looking dark blue boat on display in the park. I had to stop and check it out. The boat was named the “Aha” and built by inventor Ephraim Shay. He lived in
McCourtie Park sits in Somerset Center along US-12. It is mostly known for its ornate concrete bridges. Before it was a park it was a sprawling estate owned by William Herbert Lee “Herb” McCourtie who built a mansion and the bridges on the property. The large mansion was razed years ago and the estate is
The Small town of Hart is a few miles southeast of Pentwater on the west coast of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. Just north of town is the archway for John Gurney Park welcoming visitors. The park was one of the first auto tourist camps developed along the West Michigan Pike during the 1920s. As the affordability
McCourtie Park is in the town of Somerset Center in southern Michigan along US-12. The park was originally the estate of businessman W. H. L. McCourtie. He hired Mexican artisans George Cardoso and Ralph Corona to construct seventeen bridges on his property. They sculpted them out of concrete to look like natural wood. The house
The identity of the woman in blue is a mystery. Some believe she is the spirit of a runaway slave the died while traveling the Underground Railroad to freedom. She has been seen in McCourtie Park near Somerset Center in southern Michigan. No one knows who she is or why she would be haunting the
Sharon Mills near Manchester was built in the 1830s. Later a gristmill was erected and operated by John Rice and subsequently by the Kirkwood family until the late 1920s. In 1928, Sharon Mills was purchased by Henry Ford for use as a small plant. He rebuilt the mill, added a stone addition, and installed a
If you are searching for Bliss in northern Michigan you will it find somewhere between Mackinaw City and Cross Village. It’s the name of a small town in the agricultural area south of Wilderness State Park. In 1878, the town got a post office, and the little community was named after Arron T. Bliss, a wealthy