West of downtown Sault Ste Marie near the Lake Superior State Campus is an old stone and brick water tower. The 45-foot diameter tower was constructed in 1894 and the steel tank inside holds 364,000 gallons of water. It is one of the oldest water towers in Michigan and was refurbished in 2010. That is
Awakon Park in Onaway Michigan was the site of the American Wood Rim Company. While most of the factory is gone a few structures and remnants remain. Started in 1901 to build wood bicycle rims the company began building wooden automobile steering wheels in 1904. With the success of their steering wheels and the booming
This beautiful brick victorian house stands in downtown Chelsea. It was built around 1878 for Michigan State Senator James Gorman, a politician, lawyer, and cigar manufacturer. The house is now a bed and breakfast and is known as the Chelsea House Victorian Inn. Lost In Michigan books are ON SALE this weekend on Amazon HERE Thank you
Roaming around Ypsilanti, I came across this old grain elevator and had to stop and take a pic of it. I find that in many small towns, the grain elevator is the center of town, but in some of the larger cities the grain elevators are not so important, but I am sure at one
This cute little log cabin church sits in the heart of the Upper Peninsula in what remains of the small town of Mansfield not far from Crystal Falls. Built in the late 1800s it was the only church in Mansfield. It was maintained by a Lutheran Congregation but used by other faiths. As the town’s
Guiding ships into the western end of the Straits of Mackinac the White Shoal Lighthouse sits miles away from land in northern Lake Michigan. The light was a marvel of engineering when it was constructed in 1908 and compleated in 1910. The lighthouse with its unique “candy cane” red and white stripes, is the only
The southwestern Michigan town of Three Oaks was named after, you guessed it, three oak trees that stood nearby when the area was settled in 1850. This adorable little brick depot was constructed in 1898. It was used by the railroad until 1959. The little depot sat empty for years before it was restored in
If you have lived in Michigan for a long time you have probably visited Mackinaw City, The Island, and the Fort along with other sites at the tip of the mitten many times. On my last trip to northern Michigan, I took a ride on the Yankee Sunshine. It is a glass-bottom boat operated by
Deep in the forests in the center of the Keweenaw Penisula is the stone ruins of a once prosperous mine and town that supported it. The Cliff Mine is the first successful mine in the Michigan Copper District and dates from 1845. The highly successful mine was the largest copper mine in the US for
Along the Lake Huron shoreline in the Thumb is the town of White Rock. It was named after, you probably guessed it, a white rock. They rock is about a half-mile offshore. Over the years it has broken up in the ice and is not as prominent as it once was but it is still
