4 replies to this topic

[ZachariahDaMan]

Later this month I will be going to the Upper Peninsula for a few days.  What would you all suggest doing?  I'm looking for the typical touristy things.  But I also really want to see some ghost towns and I've heard they have them there.  Does anyone know of some?

[walker]

ZachariahDaMan, on Sep 3 2009, 04:27 PM, said:

Later this month I will be going to the Upper Peninsula for a few days.  What would you all suggest doing?  I'm looking for the typical touristy things.  But I also really want to see some ghost towns and I've heard they have them there.  Does anyone know of some?

The ghost towns I know of are in the far western part of the UP where they used to mine copper, mostly in the Keweenaw Peninsula.  You might have already found this yourself but here is a link to ghost towns of the UP:

http://www.exploring...host/towns.html

If you get that far, you might want to check-out the architecture of Houghton and Hancock.  Those two neighboring towns are full of mostly unrestored Victorian houses and buildings and funky working class neighborhoods.  With their steep hills they are a little like San Francisco would be if San Francisco was cold and got a lot of snow and not many people had the money or trendy tastes to decorate their houses.

[andrew.w]

ZachariahDaMan, on Sep 3 2009, 04:27 PM, said:

Later this month I will be going to the Upper Peninsula for a few days.  What would you all suggest doing?  I'm looking for the typical touristy things.  But I also really want to see some ghost towns and I've heard they have them there.  Does anyone know of some?

I took a trip (4-5days) to the Upper Peninsula last summer.  Our first stop was the ghost town of Fayette on the Garden Peninsula.  If you are looking for ghost towns, then I would recommend this one.  It has 20+ buildings, it has been maintained by the park services since it was acquired in 1930, so most of the buildings are still in decent condition.  Therefore if you are looking for buildings which are returning to nature, this is not the place, but it is still interesting.

We stayed the night in Escanaba.  We weren't really there long enough for me to be able to tell you much about it.  It does have a fairly extensive main street with some notable architecture.  We then drove to and spent time in Marquette.  That is a beautiful hillside town with Victorian city hall and Greek revival courthouse (I would recommend going inside the courthouse if you can - especially the court room).  The nearby tiny town of Neguanee also has a very interesting city hall and some remnants of mines.  Neguanee also has an iron mining museum which may be of interest, though it was not something we went to.

Our next major stop was Houghton/Hancock.  That's an area in which I wish we would have had more time to spend.  Two nice downtowns (and another courthouse), the Quincy Mine museum, (Michigan Tech) and I'm sure several other things can be found in these cities.

Our destination was Calumet/Larium in the Keweenaw Peninsula (which is really an island).  There's not much of anything (that's open anyway) in Larium except the Larium Inn, the B&B where we spent most of our nights.  It's housed in two adjacent mansions and their carriage houses plus two additional houses.  Calumet has some very interesting architecture.  Of note are the Library, some ruins of mine buildings, and the Calumet Theater (built in the late 1800s) which is open for self guided tour.  If you go up that way, I would take a drive out to Copper Harbor at the tip of the peninsula.  There are several notable sites, including some lighthouses, scenic vantage points, and waterfalls between Calumet and Copper Harbor.


I'm sure there are several other things to do that we didn't know about or didn't get to, but hopefully this will get you started on a list of things to look up as you are planning your trip.

[wolverine]

Zach, I've seen the kind of pictures you take, so I know you should hit up the Houghton-Hancock-Calument Area.  Be sure to hit up the surrounding small towns like Lake Linden, Wolverine, AHmeek, and Mohawk.  They contain some abandoned mining buildings.  They are still owned by mining companies that are largely absentee, so keeping people out of them is basically pointless.


If you do not visit this area, your trip will be a total waste knowing that you like to photograph old interesting towns with a wealth of history.

[walker]

ZachariahDaMan, on Sep 3 2009, 04:27 PM, said:

. . . the typical touristy things.

  Can't get any more crass touristy than this:
http://www.uslhs.org...uperior/045.jpg
Neguanee I believe