Here we are..in the Mackinaw City KOA as our home for the week. We did so much! This is a very long post. Look at what you want and scroll by the rest. There is so much interesting history, I just couldn't help myself!
2025.05.20
Left Manistique and we thought all the flies! Along the way
we ran into swarms/clouds of fish flies! Poor Mona is covered in them. It was
so windy that all traffic had to drive 20 miles per hour over the Mackinaw
Bridge.
We are in site 51 at the KOA in Mackinaw City. It’s a very
nice site with a patio, grill, table and chairs. We decided to leave Marley in
the camper while e go to Mackinaw Island.
We went for a ride to Wilderness State Park and to check out
the Kennel that we were going to leave Marley at while we went to the Island.
We decided to NOT eave Marley at that kennel. It was basically a garage and the
lady puts the dogs in there in the morning and goes back to her house and then
comes back at 4:00 so people can pick up their pets. We decided Marley would be
more comfortable at the camper. And he was. He laid and waited for us and all
was fine. It was an early night because we were going to catch the shuttle to
the ferry early.
2025.05.21
Cold and windy!!! We caught the shuttle to the ferry at about 8:30. The
ferry shuttle came right to the campground and picked us up. We were on the
9:30 ferry to Mackinaw Island. It was cold! The first thing we did is walk into
the first store and ask for gloves. They cost me $12.95 but were so worth it! I
had on a hoodie and a winter coat. I was happy for the hood to be able to pull
up too!
We wandered down main street and checked out the shops and
Doud’s Market (lots of gift shops, fudge shops and restaurants) and then we
bought tickets for the 12:10 horse drawn carriage tour. The Tour was well worth
the $44 dollars each! Saved us tons of walking and the information was great
too. We spent most of our time at Fort Mackinaw. The tour included downtown
historic buildings, The Grand Hotel, Surrey Hills Carriage Museum, Arch Rock
and Fort Mackinac along with lots of facts and lore from the tour drivers.
The fort was built in 1780 during the American Revolution.
The automobile was banned in 1898 so there is no car noise
or exhaust, only horse drawn carriages and bicycles. Only employees can have
e-bikes. Emergency vehicles such as fire trucks and an ambulance are the only
modern vehicles. Foot power is the most commonly used transportation.
We walked and we walked…The horse drawn carriage dropped us
at the fort and we toured the entire thing, every single building, and we watched a cannon firing demonstration. Then we walked down the hill to town again, and back
down main street and to the ferry dock.
HISTORY LESSON---***Scroll on by if not interested...
Great Lakes American Indians were summer visitors to
Mackinac Island during the Woodland Period of 1000 BC-1650 AD. They considered
it sacred and named it Michilimackinac. European settlers arrived in 1670 when
a Christian Mission was established on the island. The mission was moved to
what is now St. Ignace, Michigan and then, in 1708, to what is now Mackinaw
City. Fort Michilimackinac was originally constructed around the same time for
upper Great Lakes fur trade. It remained a French outpost until the British
took control after the Seven Years War. From 1779-1781, during the American
Revolution, The British dismantled Michilimackinac and moved it all to Mackinac
Island to create a more defensible location for his fort. The fort and island
became United States territory as a result of the American victory in the
Revolution.
During the summer of 1812, British soldiers surprised the
fort and took control. Two years later American soldiers tried to recapture the
fort and were badly defeated in the only battle ever fought on the island.
In 1814 a peace treaty restored the island and Fort Mackinac
to the United States. John Jacob Astor established the American Fur Company
northern headquarters on Mackinac Island and by the 1820’s furs from all around
the territory were counted, sorted and baled for shipment to the east coast and
Europe. Commercial fishing replaced the fur trade in the 1830’s.
During the Civil War Fort Mackinac soldiers marched south in
support of the Union and the island fort was abandoned except for a single
caretaker soldier. During the summer of 1862 the fort served as a prison for
three wealthy and influential residents of Tennessee who were sympathetic to
the Confederate cause.
In 1875 the federal government created Mackinac National
Park, America’s second National Park, established just three years after
Yellowstone.
Following the Civil War crowds of Victorian visitors came to
the island during the summer to escape the hot cities. Several placed of
accommodation were built but these smaller hotels could not keep up with the
demand. In 1887 the Grand Hotel opened its doors and made Mackinac Island the
most fashionable resort in the Great Lakes.
Two years after the Grand was built, Henry Murdick opened
the island’s first “Candy Kitchen,’ offering chocolates, taffy and fudge. There
are fudge shops up and down both sides of the street as well as on the
mainland. Our favorites were the double chocolate espresso from Murdicks and
the chocolate peanut butter fudge we found at the Shipwreck Museum.
In 1895, after 115 years of service, the United States Army
removed soldiers from the fort. The federal government transferred the fort and
national park to the state and Michigan’s first state park and the Mackinac
Island State Park were created. Three years later the first automobile appeared
on the Mackinac Island. It scared the horses and threatened the carriage
company. The village council quickly banned “horseless carriages.”
Mackinac Island suffered a blow during the Great Depression
and though WWII but became popular again after the war when people had jobs,
the economy prospered and an expanded highway system brought vacationers to northern Michigan.
A fort blockhouse is a small, fortified building designed
for defense, often built as a standalone structure or as part of a larger
fortification. It typically features thick walls, gunports (loopholes), and
sometimes a second level, allowing defenders to fire in various directions
while offering limited exposure to the enemy.
The Flag
of Fort Mackinac
Flags have flown over Fort Mackinac since British soldiers constructed the post in 1780 during the American Revolution. A symbol of authority and national pride, the fort flag was faithfully raised by soldiers at the beginning of each day. In good weather, they hoisted the huge sprawling flag which could be seen from the middle of the Straights of Mackinac. In inclement weather, they flew the much smaller storm flag.
Fun Fact: United
States soldiers first lifted the Stars and Stripes over Fort Mackinac in 1796
when they took control of the post. When Private John McCraith built the new
flag staff on this site in 1835 he buried a note in a bottle which was found by
soldiers reinforcing the pole 34 years later. A second note was added and the
bottle returned below ground. Efforts to find this time capsule have been
unsuccessful and the bottle remains buried but no forgotten.
Black Hole
The first two guardhouses at Fort Mackinac included an
underground cell, called a black hole. It was used to punish disobedient
soldiers and these black hole cells were common in early British and American
guard houses. The cell in the 1828 guardhouse replaces the black hole and it
was floored over. It remained hidden until discovered in 1933 during
restoration work. Looking at the cell, it was barley big enough to sit in much
less lay down.
THE ROUND ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE
The Round Island Lighthouse, a significant landmark in
the Straits of Mackinac, is located on the west shore of Round Island, just a
half-mile from Mackinac Island. Built in 1895, it was constructed to mark the
southern side of the North Channel, a narrow passage between Round Island and
Mackinac Island. The lighthouse was originally brick red but was later painted
red and white. It was automated in 1924 and decommissioned in 1947.
Nearly collapsed in the early 1970s but was preserved and is
now a well known landmark.
THE GRAND HOTEL
The Grand Hotel was constructed by builder Charles
Caskey. Construction began in the fall
of 1886, and was to be completed by the next summer to receive guests who had
already purchased rooms. Winter
construction posed several challenges, including the need for hundreds of
workers and the logistics of getting materials, including over 1.5 million
board feet of Michigan white pine, to the remote site. Caskey attracted tradespeople by paying twice
the standard wage and housed them on the island in tent cities. Materials were moved by horse across ice
bridges once winter weather froze the waters of the straights. Caskey was allotted nine months to complete
construction but did so in an astonishing 93 days. Local lore says that Caskey was promised a $1
million dollar bonus to complete construction in 90 days’ time and missed the
payout by a mere three days, with the hotel opening for business on July 10,
1887. The 90 day deadline was missed because workers found out that Caskey
planned to keep the bonus for himself so they delayed the project intentionally.
The most prominent aspect of the hotel’s design is the
three-story-tall, covered veranda, the colonnade of which can be seen from
miles away. The 660-foot-long porch,
hailed as the world’s longest, is a popular attraction to this day. The porch curves at each end and is
symmetrical about a central cupola. The
cupola features impressive 360-degree views and originally provided hotel staff
with a view of arriving guests. The original building had 286 guestrooms. No
two guest rooms in the hotel are identical, with each featuring unique design
and décor. There are several “named”
rooms and suites, including seven suites named for First Ladies of the United
States. Not surprisingly, the Grand has
been utilized as a location for feature films, including 1980’s “Somewhere in
Time”. The carefully preserved historical building honors tradition to this
day, including manicured grounds and gardens, a dress code for dinner service,
and the absence of motorized vehicles (an island-wide prohibition).
The Grand Hotel was added to the National Register of
Historic Places in 1972 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1989. The Grand Hotel operates on a seasonal basis
from May through October of each year.
Access to the hotel and grounds is limited to registered guests and
those who purchase admission tickets
There were two movies filmed on Mackinac Island/ Esther
Williams and Jimmy Durante starred in the 1947 film This Time For Keeps.
The film featured both summer and winter scenes. The 1979 film Somewhere in
Time was the second, starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour.
The Grand Hotel was built to accommodate the growing
visitors to the island following the Civil War. In the early days of the 20th
century, wealthy patrons dressed for tea promenaded on the 660 foot porch.
Gentlemen are still required to wear ties and jackets to dinner today.
FUN FACTS
The World’s Longest Front Porch
At 660 feet long, no other hotel in the world can match it.
That includes relaxing in a rocking chair while enjoying stunning views of the
Straits of Mackinac.
Grand Hotel Maintains Over 125,000 Flowers
More than one ton of flower bulbs are planted each fall to
create the many gardens on Grand Hotel grounds. Varieties include tulips,
daffodils and geraniums, the hotel’s signature flower.
You Can Find Grand Hotel in Somewhere in Time
This 1980 classic film starring Christopher Reeves and Jane
Seymour was filmed on location at Grand Enthusiasts of the film meet every year
in October to celebrate the cinematic secrets of the timeless classic and meet
cast members.
A Pool Named for a Star
The Esther Williams swimming pool at Grand Hotel was named
for actress Esther Williams, star of the 1947 movie This Time For Keeps, filmed
at Grand Hotel.
The Legacy of Sadie’s Ice Cream Parlor
Scottish Terrier Sadie, owned by hotel proprietors Amelia
and R.D. Musser, Jr., was awarded Best in Show at the 2010 Westminster Dog
Show. Named for this much-loved dog, Sadie’s Ice Cream Parlor features Grand
Hotel Pecan Ball Ice Cream, inspired by the hotel’s signature dessert and made
using Michigan’s own Hudsonville ice cream.
More Than 6,000 Pounds of Pecans are Used Annually
Fresh pecans are a necessity for Grand Hotel’s signature
dessert. Made with vanilla ice cream and Grand Hotel’s original fudge sauce,
more than 60,000 balls are served each season.
To see a beautiful walking tour CLICK BELOW…
ARCH ROCK
Arch rock stands 146 feet above the water and is a natural
curiosity that spans 50 feet at it’s widest point. The arch was formed over
thousands of years by wind and water eroding soft rock below, leaving only the
hard breccia rock that forms the arch.
Indian legend tells a different story…
A long time ago, a beautiful young Indian woman named
Ne-daw-niss (She-who-walks-like-the-mist), while gathering wild rice, met a
handsome young man who was the son of a sky spirit. They fell in love, but she
was forbidden to marry the non-mortal by her cruel father. He beat her and tied
her on a rock high on a bluff on the island of the Turtle. She wept softly for
her lover. Tears flowing down the bluff washed away the stone and formed the
arch. In time the young man returned, untied her and took her in his arms.
Together they returned to the home of his sky people.
2025.05.22
Happy Heavenly Birthday Danny!
We had a long drive this morning. It seems to be a very
repressed area up here. There are lots of falling down and in disrepair homes
and vacant businesses. Banjoes can be heard in the distance…
We left mid-morning to see the Shipwreck Museum in Paradise,
MI. We saw three of the five Great Lakes today! Lake Huron and Lake Michigan
are divided by the Mackinac Bridge…which we crossed twice today.
SHIPWRECK MUSEUM
Lake Superior could be seen from the Shipwreck Museum and
Whitefish Point Light Station. The Light Station, built in 1861 during
President Lincoln’s administration, is the oldest active light on Lake
Superior. The Lighthouse Keeper’s Quarters has been restored and opened for the
tour as well. The Museum houses the Edmond Fitzgerald Exhibit. The SS Edmund
Fitzgerald was a bulk carrier that sank in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975,
during a severe storm, resulting in the loss of all 29 crew members. The ship,
the largest on the Great Lakes at the time, was carrying taconite ore pellets
and was named after a Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. chairman. The
sinking of the Fitzgerald has become a legendary Great Lakes disaster,
immortalized in song by Gordon Lightfoot. The Fitzgerald lies twisted and broken just 17
miles from Whitefish Point at a depth of 535 feet. In the summer of 1995, the
Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society along with families of the Fitzge3rald
Crew, the Royal Canadian Navy, the National Geographic Society and Sony
Corporation raised the bell to honor the 29 men lost on November 10, 1975. The
bell of the Edmond Fitzgerald is on display in the Museum.
Newtsuit
During June and July 1995, the Great Lakes Shipwreck
Historical Society, working with the National Geographic Society and the
Canadian Navy, Used Newtsuit to explore the Edmond Fitzgerald and recover her
bell. This suit us designed for cold water diving and is capable of reaching
depths of 1200 feet. It maintains internal pressure and purifies and recycles
the divers 54 hour air supply. It had helicopter-like maneuverability, is
tethered to the surface and weighs 900 lbs. (that is not a typo…900 lbs). The suit
can be disconnected in emergencies and operate on it’s own backup power supply.
Click below for some interesting videos I found...
At the Shipwreck Museum...
Al walked down a path to see what he could see…he met a
Raptor Counter…he counted and kept record of all raptors passing through. He said the eagles that we see in
Sauk Prairie come from up here.
On down the road…
TEHQUAMENON FALLS
There are Lower Falls (.5 mile trail to the falls) and Upper
Falls (.3 miles to the falls). We went to both. Marley did good walking.
Tahquamenon Falls State Park covers 50,000 acres stretching over 13 miles. Most
is undeveloped without roads, buildings or power lines. The Upper Falls is one
of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi. It has a drop of nearly 50
feet and is more than 200 feet across. More than 50,000 gallons of water per
second has been recorded cascading over these falls. Four miles downstream is
the lower falls , a series of five smaller falls cascading around an island.
Although not as dramatic as the Upper Falls, they are equally beautiful. The
river’s amber color is caused by tannins leached from the cedar, spruce and
hemlock trees in the swamps drained by the river, and the extremely soft water
churned by the action of the falls causes the river’s large amounts of foam.
Click the video below to see a video by Rugged Mile
We had supper at the Tahquamenon Falls Brewery and it was
very good!
We got back to the Mackinac Bridge and traffic was stopped
for a wide load coming through…we sat about 30 minutes. Good thing we got
diesel at the last station we saw!
2025.05.23
Mackinaw Mall…
Huge
Transformer…Bumblebee!
Al bought a
Katana Sword
We ate pizza at Mama Mia’s
We went to the movie “The Last
Rodeo”
2025.05.24
Saulte Ste.
Marie, Michigan
The Soo Locks are right at the International Bridge between
the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Canada.
We went to the visitor center where we were greeted by Corps
of Engineer Security and had my purse searched and Al’s knife checked. The War
Department Corps of Engineer operate the visitor center and the locks. Then
walked up the observation platform where we were able to watch a boat and a
sailboat pass through the locks.
Despite changes in Machinery and power sources, todays locks
work much the same as they did in 1798. By opening and closing valves
water moves in and out of the lock chamber using only gravity.
The Soo Locks, located in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, are a
vital infrastructure for connecting Lake Superior to Lake Huron, the lower Great Lakes and
the St. Lawrence Seaway. They consist of four locks that allow ships to
navigate the 21-foot drop in elevation between the lakes. The locks are a
gravity-fed system, meaning they use water pressure and not pumps to lift or
lower vessels. Gravity causes water to flow toward Lake Huron and valves control that flow to fill or empty the lock chamber. The only changes have been in the machinery and safety updated with each new lock. On the first locks, men manually turned the capstans to open the gates. Today they are automated.
Here are some key
facts about the Soo Locks:
The bedrock
beneath the locks is 1,000 feet thick and is made from reddish sandstone.
It would take 584
train cars to move 70,000 tons of cargo or one 1,000ft freighter.
The Paul R. Tregurtha is the largest freighter that uses the
Poe Lock. It measures in at 1,013.5′ feet long and 105′ wide.
History:
The first lock
was built in 1855, and the most recent lock, the Poe Lock, was completed in
1968.
Importance:
The Soo Locks are critical for the transportation of iron
ore, which is essential for steel production. Approximately 90% of the world's
iron ore moves through the Soo Locks.
Operation:
The locks are operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week during
the navigation season (mid-March to mid-January).
Size:
The largest lock,
the Poe Lock, can accommodate vessels up to 1000 feet in length.
Water Usage:
The Poe Lock
requires approximately 22 million gallons of water to lift or lower a vessel.
Economic Impact:
The Soo Locks play a significant role in the economy,
supporting jobs and businesses along the Great Lakes and beyond.
Visitor Center:
The Soo Locks Visitor Center offers information about the
history of the locks and the Great Lakes region.
Free to Visit:
The Soo Locks are free to visit, and visitors can observe the
locking process from various vantage points, including the observation platform
in Soo Locks Park.
No charge for
freighters:
There is no
charge for freighters to use the Soo Locks.
Winter Closure:
The locks are
closed for repairs from mid-January to mid-March each year.
Most ships utilize the Poe Lock, which was rebuilt in 1968 to accommodate larger and more modern ships. The MacArthur Lock, which is closest to Sault Ste. Marie, is also still in operation and was named after General Douglas MacArthur. The Davis and Sabin Locks were built in 1914 and 1919 respectively, but currently, only the Poe and MacArthur Locks are operational. However, construction of a new Soo Lock is currently underway, which will be the same size as the Poe Lock.
As trade
increased and larger boats became prevalent in the Northwest Territory, the
process of unloading and hauling cargo around the rapids in wagons became
necessary. In 1797, the Northwest Fur Company constructed a 38-foot navigation
lock on the Canadian side of the river for small boats. This lock remained in
use until the War of 1812, when it was destroyed. Subsequently, freighters and
boats had to be portaged around the rapids once again.
Construction of a new Soo Lock began in 2019, and it is expected to take up to 10 years to complete. The project as of 2023 now costs $3.22 billion, more than three times its initial price tag, due to labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, and material cost increases over the past four years. The new lock will be built adjacent to the Poe Lock and will be the same size, allowing for more efficient traffic flow and reducing delays. The project is seen as critical to the U.S. economy and national security, as the Great Lakes shipping industry is a vital part of the country’s transportation infrastructure. The new Soo Lock will ensure continued reliable and safe navigation of goods and materials through the Great Lakes, helping to support economic growth and maintain the region’s competitiveness in global markets.
Click the link below to see
On to the Valley
Camp Museum Ship where we toured a cargo ship with many shipping artifacts and
history from sunken ships including the Edmond Fitzgerald. We bought more
fudge…this time it was Maple Nut.
The S.S. Eastland Disaster
The Speed Queen
of the Great Lakes was built in 1903 for the day passenger and fruit
transportation across Lake Michigan to Chicago. She was a beautiful twin stack
vessel. Although she was fast with fine lines, she had gained a reputation
because of her tendency to roll.
On July 24, 1915
the S.S. Eastland was part of a fleet of five excursion boats assigned to take
Western Electric employees, families and friends across Lake Michigan to
Michigan City, Indiana, for a day of fun and fellowship for the 5th Annual
Western Electric’s Employee Picnic. But the festivities were short-lived and
quickly turned tragic. A total of 7000 ticket had been purchased. The licensed
capacity of the Eastland was set at 2400 passengers. She was loaded with 2500
passengers this day. When she was leaving dock, a tug boat went by and blew his
whistle. The passengers all rushed to that side, to watch the tug steam by.
The rush of
passengers to one side caused all her water ballast to run to the low side,
causing her to roll over. Her bow was only 19/2 feet from the wharf, and her
stern was 37 feet away. She pinned 812 passengers on her underside with no
chance of exit. The loss of life from this tragedy totaled 844 people including
22 entire families. This is considered to be the greatest one-time loss of life
ever in the Great Lakes.
2025.05.25
Fort Michilimackinac, Mackinaw City, MI
I loved this unexpected find!
Colonial
Michilimackinac is a National Historic Landmark and features re-enactments from
British 1770’s occupation and the American Revolution. Colonial Michilimackinac
was an outpost on the edge in 1775 as the American Revolution began. We toured
all the buildings and there were two underground displays from archeological
digs. We watched a demonstration of firing muskets and we watched a
demonstration called: The Pleasures of the Table: Dining Culture at
Michilimackinac in May of 1775. This meal included Bread, Salad with lovage.
Dandelion flowers and salad sauce of oil vinegar and herbs, onion soup, beans
with herbs and butter, Quiche Pie, Rice pudding with sugar and cream, variety
of cheese (the Dr. recommends 1 piece of cheese daily the size of a nutmeg), and
coffee or tea.
Because of the
abundance of fish in the area, Michilimackinac’s early French inhabitants were
dependent on this food source. Whitefish was particularly plentiful and
popular. Fish meat was also preserved and eaten throughout the winter and
sometime mixed with ground corn to create a dish they called “sagamity.”
Click my video below!
When the British troops abandoned Fort Michilimackinac for the safety of Mackinac Island in 1781, they burned all remaining structures, Very Little of the original fort survived. As flames consumed the powder magazine, the earthen roof collapsed extinguishing the fire, The charred and buried ruin remained we-preserved until 1975 when archeologists began to unearth this hidden treasure.
In the 18th Century, military privies were often divided into separate spaces for enlisted soldiers and officers. Officer enjoyed smaller rooms, providing more privacy, and their benches usually had individual seats. Enlisted privies, meanwhile, were usually larger, communal spaces offering little privacy for the soldiers. Some privies built for enlisted men included individual seats, but others featured large, open-topped benches without seats. Solders had to perch on the edge of the bench and balance themselves over a large hole leading down to the cesspit below. This style of open benches was also common in civilian privies. ***This is shown on my video too!
There are lots of videos on YouTube and information online about Mackinac Island and Fort Mackinac. Take a look if you want to know more.
The McGulpin Point Lighthouse, located in Mackinaw City, Michigan, was built in 1869 and operated as a navigational aid on the Straits of Mackinac until 1906.
According to
Odawa historian Andrew J. Blackbird, this tribe was called the Mus-co-desh. In
Blackbird’s story, a great insult was delivered to the Odawa by the
Mus-co-desh, who then occupied the area of what is now Emmet County. This
insult so infuriated the great war chief Sagemaw that he immediately went back
to his villages on Manitoulin Island to gather a war party to right this wrong.
The result was the near extermination of the Mus-co-desh and their expulsion
from Northern Michigan. The Odawa took advantage of this vacuum and moved into
Emmet County, first settling at McGulpin Point.
American written
history tells us that John McAlpine and his Native American wife lived on
McGulpin Point in the 1760s. After the turbulence of the Revolutionary War the
land was surveyed for the new United States of America by Aaron Greeley and
ownership was determined. John McAlpine’s son and heir, Patrick McGulpin, was
given the patent on this land and holds the first recorded deed in Emmet
County, Michigan in 1811.
Among the
Station’s most notable keepers was James Davenport. He was transferred to
McGulpin Point in September of 1879 and held this position twenty-seven years,
until the station was discontinued in 1906.
The Davenport
family lived the entire navigation season in the lighthouse. After the close of
the navigation season every year, they moved into to their home in Mackinaw
City so that the children could get to and from school, the snow making the
trip from town to the lighthouse virtually impossible.
Davenport made
weekly trips through the snow to the lighthouse to report on its condition to
the District Inspector in Milwaukee. Davenport was absolutely meticulous in
filing these reports on a weekly basis with the exception of a single week in
1891, when he missed filing his report. His sad letter of March 23rd of that
same year provided the reason for his missing the report, when he wrote “Sir, I
just was up in the Lt House and found all in good order. You will see by this
report that I did not report to you last week. My wife and child died last week
and I could not go up to the light house to report to you as required.”
December 5, 1893
was a particularly eventful one at McGulpin Point when the wooden propeller
WALDO A. AVERY caught fire while passing through the Straits. The captain
steered the vessel toward the lighthouse at full steam. Keeper Davenport had
left the station for Mackinaw City earlier in the day, and with the
aforementioned passing of his wife two years prior, had left his remaining nine
children alone at the station. Accustomed to lighthouse life, the children were
a resourceful group, and made preparations for the care of the survivors.
Imagine the fear in the children’s hearts as they saw the crew members
literally fighting for their lives on the approaching vessel. Alerted to what
was going on at the lighthouse, Davenport rushed back to the station with a
number of Mackinaw City residents. With the vessel’s lifeboat burned and
unusable, numerous trips to the burning and beached vessel were made with the
Station’s small skiff, until all seventeen crew members had been brought to
safety on the shore. The AVERY’s insurance for the season had expired the
previous day.
Keeper Davenport
climbed the stairs to exhibit his light for the last time on the closing of the
navigation season on December 15 of that year. The station was boarded-up and
the lantern and lens removed, with Davenport serving as caretaker for a few
weeks until his transfer to Mission Point lighthouse where he continued to
serve until his retirement in 1917. On retirement, he returned to Mackinaw
City, where he lived-out the remainder of his life, passing away on March 18,
1932 at the age of eighty-five.
The station was
sold a few times, last being owned by the Peppler family, from whom the station
was purchased by Emmet County in 2008. The County formed a Historical
Commission to plan and oversee the restoration of the lighthouse.
Storm of 1913
…a November snow
storm so bad it was like a hurricane. Lost 19 ships and stranded 19 more. More
than 258 lives lost.
The Great Lakes
Storm of 1913, historically referred to as the Big Blow, the Freshwater Fury
and the White Hurricane, was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that
devastated the Great Lakes Basin in the Midwestern United States and
Southwestern Ontario, Canada, between November 7 and 10, 1913. The storm was
most powerful on November 9, battering and overturning ships on four of the
five Great Lakes, particularly Lake Huron. The storm was the deadliest and most
destructive natural disaster to hit the Great Lakes in recorded history.
The storm
produced wind gusts of 90 mph, waves estimated at over 35 feet high and
whiteout snowsqualls. Winds exceeding hurricane-force occurred over four of the
lakes for extended periods creating very large waves.
https://youtu.be/eMXu-J1S4O4?si=IZi7qG_R_qQL0lKQ
The White
Hurricane: The Great Lakes Storm of 1913
https://youtu.be/BuP9Lfbqx3U?si=gLT4-4No0MCAftbT
Heritage Village Park
A re-created
village we drove through. We were tired.
Some local
farmers were poor and built their homes
using the rough-hewn trees on their farms. Christian Detweiler and his family
built this home about 1883, roughly the same time as the wealthier Stimpson
family built the nice white frame house rebuilt across the field to the east.
Detweiler was a farmer and a carpenter, as well as a Mennonite minister.
Originally this
house had only an extended stovepipe through the roof to serve as a chimney. These were called shelf chimneys." This often caused fires. There was always a ladder and pails kept near for the
family's protection. In case of fire, the children were taught to draw water
from the well with the always ready buckets, and carry them up the ladder to
their mother waiting above. She always succeeded in putting out the fire with
their help.
A pest house, short for “pestilence house,” also called a “plague house” or “fever shed,” was a type of building used for persons afflicted with communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, cholera, smallpox, or typhus, even the Spanish Flu at one time. Often used for forcible quarantine, many towns and cities had one or more pest houses accompanied by a cemetery or a waste pond nearby for disposal of the dead. Every Michigan community had a pest house around 1900.
This Pestilence (Pest) House was built in the 1890s and was rediscovered in 2004 in the form of a long-deserted machine shop. It was moved to Heritage Village and completely restored in 2005. Ours is the only one known to us that survived and has been fully restored.
In 1881, after the Civil War, trainloads of people started arriving to the area to visit Mackinac Island and the Grand Hotel, inevitably some with diseases and the Hotel didn’t want them. In the 1890s Mackinaw City built an inexpensive building to house those with diseases and it was called a pestilence house per the bible. It was situated near the cemetery far from downtown. This building saw 40 years of diphtheria, cholera, influenza and smallpox. To protect healthy citizens from the person with the disease, the sick were taken to the Pest House where they were cared for until they were well.
Freedom School=built
in 1885
Like the pest house, this structure is another inexpensive building with a shelf chimney.
The Stimpson Homestead Charles and Ella Stimpson’s “Maple Ridge Farm,” was originally built in the 1880’s. The Stimpsons came from Maine after the Civil War. They were lumberjacks who first settled in Cheboygan. George Stimpson and his eldest son Charles were hired to build a dock, and cut timber for the steamers which passed through the Straits of Mackinac. After the land was cleared of its timber resources, Charles and his bride homesteaded “Maple Ridge Farm.” The farm remained in the Stimpson family until the 1940’s when it was sold.
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