Tag: Michigan

Saginaw River Lighthouse

Nathan

Saginaw Bay lies between Michigan’s thumb and the rest of the state’s Lower Peninsula. As Michigan was preparing to become a state, it adopted a constitution in 1835 that encouraged internal improvements such as roads and canals. A project that was contemplated at this time was linking Saginaw River, which flowed into eponymous Bay, with Grand River, which flowed into Lake Michigan. The Saginaw River lighthouse stands about a mile from the mouth of the river. It worked in conjunction with a beacon closer to the mouth and, when sailors…

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Elizabeth: the “Witch” of Union-Udell Cemetery, Ypsilanti – Michigan

Leo S

For many, cemeteries are macabre enough without any paranormal activity or ghost sightings. So here’s a Michigan graveyard that is said to be one of the most haunted in this state… The Union-Udell Cemetery in Ypsilanti, home to a number of headstones dating back to the mid-1830’s, is an extensive graveyard just off Textile Road, south of Ford Lake and southwest of Willow Run Airport. Apparently, It is the final resting place of a witch that still today haunts the cemetery. This supposed witch’s name was Elizabeth, but there’s nothing…

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Peche Island Rear Range Light in Marine City, Michigan – the retired lighthouse

Nathan

Isle aux Pêches, French for Fisheries Island, is a Canadian Island situated at the confluence of the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair. On July 13, 1892, Congress passed an act that provided for a ship channel with a minimum depth of six meters to be dredged in the shallows of the connecting waters of the Great Lakes. Isle aux Peches Range Lights were established on April 15, 1898, with the front light consisting of a mast supported by a pile of clusters driven in about six meters of water.…

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The haunted Orphanage in Marquette – Michigan that is now an apartment building ~

Leo S

The first orphanage in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the destination for area Native American and parentless children, was built in downtown Marquette in the 1870s and called “Rock Street”, followed in 1881 by a Catholic home named after St. Joseph in Assinins. However, already in 1903, these two orphanages were overfull, due to a ruthless campaign of removing infants from their Native American mothers. Frederick Eis, a Bishop residing in Marquette, soon began to petition funds for a new orphanage in his city, one that would become the biggest…

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The Cheboygan Point Lighthouse ruins and the lost town of Duncan – Michigan

Anya016

Hidden among the trees in northern Michigan and along the shores of Lake Huron in the Cheboygan State Park lies the ruins of the old Cheboygan Point Lighthouse. When sailing from the east, mariners have two options for reaching the Straits of Mackinac: the North Channel, between Mackinac Island and Round Island, or the South Channel, which passes between the southern side of Bois Blanc Island and the mainland. On September 28, 1850, Congress appropriated $4,000 for a lighthouse “on the point of land about three miles east of Cheboygan…

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Fort Gratiot Lighthouse: Michigan’s oldest lighthouse

Nathan

Fort Gratiot was built in 1814 during the War of 1812 to guard the juncture of the St. Clair River and Lake Huron. Named after the engineer who supervised construction, Charles Gratiot, Fort Gratiot would be occupied on and off until 1879. However, with a surge of vessel traffic on Lake Huron in the early 1800s, the need for a Light Station to guide vessels through the water way became very important, and in 1823 Congress approved the funds to build the first lighthouse in Michigan and the second oldest…

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Captain William Robinson: the keeper who won’t leave his lighthouse in Whitehall – Michigan

Anya016

White River is nearly twenty-four miles (about 38 km) in length and passes through White Lake before emptying into Lake Michigan. When in 1675, Father Pere Marquette stopped in the area, he learned that the Native Americans called the stream “Wabish-Sippe,” meaning the river with white clay in the water, which probably originated the names of White River and White Lake. The cities of Whitehall and Montague are located on opposite sides of the river at the head of White Lake and were first settled by Europeans just before the…

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The strange stories of Mouth Cemetery – Michigan

Leo S

Mouth Cemetery in White River Township, Michigan was established in 1851, even though it is believed that an unknown number of men and women were buried in unmarked graves throughout the area beginning in 1830. History apart, the cemetery and surrounding area are known for having a history of strange occurrences. Not far from the shores of Lake Michigan, popular for its countless shipwrecks and clear waters in spring, the cemetery is surrounded by dense trees in a somewhat remote area. At a little over 165 years old, however, it…

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The beautiful old shipwrecks visible from sky above to crystal clear water of Lake Michigan

Pavel

In these days of quarantine, in which nature seems to be reborn thanks to the forced interruption of human activities, many photographs circulating on the web of clear waters, or animals that reclaim spaces previously occupied by man. The images of wrecks that stand out distinctly on the bottom of Lake Michigan, in the United States, could seem to be taken these days, due to the extraordinary transparency of the water. Instead, each spring on this lake, if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to see shipwrecks due to the incredibly…

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Big Bay Point Lighthouse – Michigan

Anya016

Big Bay Point Lighthouse stands on a rocky point halfway between Marquette and Keweenaw Portage Entry, Michigan. The Lighthouse Board recommended the establishment of a lighthouse here in 1892, as Big Bay Point occupies a position midway between Granite Island and Huron Islands, these two lights are invisible from each other and the intervening stretch is unlighted. In fact, quite a number of vessels have in past years been wrecked around the area. The Big Bay Point Lighthouse and its adjoining caretaker’s lodge were inaugurated in 1896. The first keeper…

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Suicides at Bloomfield Hills – Michigan

Leo S

Bloomfield Hills is a quiet city located in Metro Detroit’s northern suburbs in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan, about 32.5 km northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,869. Nothing strange, that’s true? However, it seems that Bloomfield Hills has an odd tale to tell. Trowbridge Road is less than a mile long. It goes through a very well-to-do neighborhood, but empties out at one quite eerie place: the Trowbridge Bridge, built in 1930 during the beginning of The Great Depression.…

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Monumental Kitty of Detroit, Michigan~

Leo S

Although it may seem strange, one of Detroit’s most beloved felines isn’t curled up on a windowsill or lazing on on the knees of some more or less unlikely cat lady. In reality it doesn’t even purr, and look at motorists shuttling down a fairly unremarkable service drive en route to the freeway. It is a brick sculpture, with wide eyes and pointy ears, known as Monumental Kitty, and since 2010 has been charming drivers. It was created by the local artist Jerome Ferretti, who once worked as a journeyman…

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