Ghost Towns

 

What is a ghost town?

A ghost town is a once thriving town that has been completely abandoned. Many of the logging or mining communities in Michigan from the 1800s are ghost towns today.

In Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, little evidence remains of many of the little towns that were once a center of economic activity in the area but couldn’t adapt to meet changing economic conditions. Some villages in the area were able to adapt and are currently thriving tourist destinations (e.g. Empire and Glen Arbor). Glen Haven and Port Oneida became part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and are preserved to get a glimpse what these little logging and farming villages were like.

 

Ghost towns allow us to question - Who were these people? How did they live? What were their dreams and aspirations? What happened? Can we avoid their mistakes?
As you explore the site of a ghost town you may find evidence of the town and its people in the remains of a stone foundation, artifacts, or a few old pilings from the dock. While you are encouraged to examine these things and take photos, please do not take artifacts or damage the historic structures. Leave them for other visitors and future generations to find and contemplate.

 

Boom & Bust of Lake Michigan's Lumbermill Shoreline

What we know as Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore today was first settled by Native Americans, known as Anishinabek, who migrated into this area about 8,000 years ago. Living in small settlements around rivers and lakes. The Anishinabek lived on fishing, gathering wild berries, hunting/trapping, and gardening, which provided corn, potatoes, squash, and pumpkins. They thought it would stay this way for ever, but European settlement would change their world dramatically.

The first Europeans entered the area in the mid-1600s through the mid-1800s to explore and trade. Opening the Erie Canal in 1825 resulted in a dramatic increase in the use of the Great Lakes for shipping to transport people and goods to the growing Midwestern part of the continent. Great Lakes ship traffic quickly changed from schooners (2-masted sail boats), to steamships thanks to the steam engine.

 
Northern Michigan Line Steamer at Glen Haven Dock
Northern Michigan Line Steamer at Glen Haven Dock

National Park Service

The early steamships used wood for fuel. Making trips from Buffalo, NY to Chicago or Milwaukee required ships to stop for wood along the way. A dock was built on South Manitou Island in 1838, selling cord wood to the passing steamships. Increased need for cord wood led to a dock built on North Manitou Island. Small villages grew up around these docks, populated by the loggers and dock workers who supplied the firewood to the steamers. Because of the constant steamer traffic, these little ports became the transportation and commerce centers of the area.

Depleting the forest of the Manitou Islands quickly, the search was on for a new supply of wood for fuel. Several cord wood businesses started on the mainland. Coal became the preferred fuel for the steamers, the cord wood business declined.
The pine and hardwood forests were still in demand, needed to supply lumber for the building industry in the West. Sawmills were set up to cut the logs into lumber which was shipped to market from the same piers used to supply cord wood. Demand escalated dramatically after the 1871 Chicago fire.

Each logging village had a dock to load the cord wood or lumber on the steamships, one or more boarding houses where the workers would sleep and eat, a general store where they could buy whatever they needed, and a blacksmith shop to make and repair the metal tools and parts. There were also barns for the work animals (horses and oxen) used in the logging camps. After the lumberjacks and teamsters worked in a camp for a while they would bring their wives and children to the village. As the families moved in, small shacks, houses, and a school would be built. A logging village would have 100-500 residents, a couple of stores, post office, and school, which was often used as a community meeting place and church.

 
Clear-cut Logging
Michigan clear-cut logging ca. 1900

National Park Service

By 1910 most of the trees were gone. When the trees were gone, the logging business was over. The sawmill would be torn down and the equipment put on a ship and moved to a new location. Then everyone would move out of town. Buildings would be torn down and the lumber would be used for other purposes, the village remaining only in the memories of the people who lived there. Few remnants remain - a foundation or a dock piling along the beach to mark the spot. Some communities made the transition to farming, fruit orchards and canning, or tourism to survive.

Michigan's logging industry has taught us a lesson. Uninhibited exploitation of a natural resource is unsustainable business. Creating only short-term wealth and jobs. Today we know that businesses dependent on the use of natural resources must be managed in a sustainable manner to create long-term prosperity and minimize the impact on the environment.

 

Aral

Location:
Aral was located on Lake Michigan where Otter Creek empties into the Lake just south of Esch Road, a few miles south of Empire, MI. Today this is one of the most popular swimming beaches in the Lakeshore, but in the 1880s, Aral was a booming lumber town!
 

 

Edgewater

Location:
The Edgewater village and sawmill were located on the West end of Platte Lake, which is not part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, but the railroad grade from the sawmill to the dock on Lake Michigan runs along the edge of the Platte River Campground. In fact, the hiking trail from the campground to Lake Michigan follows the old railroad grade. Take a walk to the back of any of the campground loops and take the trail to Lake Michigan and look for pilings that remain of the Edgewater Dock.
 

 

Good Harbor

Location:
Good Harbor is located in the northern part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore at the Lake Michigan end of County Road 651. The only evidence of the village is a few dock pilings near the Lake Michigan shore.
 

 

North Unity (Shalda Corners)

Location:
North Unity is near where Shalda Creek empties into Lake Michigan. This is in the northern part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Turn onto CR 669 and drive to Lake Michigan Drive which is the dirt road just before you reach Lake Michigan. Turn left and drive 0.8 miles to Shalda Creek, where you will find a vault toilet near the roadside. Hike back along the creek to Lake Michigan. Or, you can park at the end of CR 669 by Lake Michigan and walk to the beach. Turn left and walk along the beach to Shalda Creek. This is the site of North Unity. There is no evidence of the village, but you can imagine it as you read the story of these hardy immigrants.
 

 

North Manitou Island

There are two different ghost towns located on North Manitou Island -

North Manitou Island Village

Location:
The main village is found on the east side of North Manitou, near the present location of the NPS dock for the passenger ferry.

Cresent

Location:
Located on the west side of North Manitou Island, was named after the shape of the shoreline where the dock was built. To get to the village site, take the trail that cuts through the center of the island to the Swanson Barn and make your way to the beach. As you walk along the beach to the north, you will find some of the old dock pilings.

 

 

South Manitou Island

Location:
From the current dock for the passenger ferry, hike approximately half a mile north along the shore. Alternatively, hike along the trail that goes through the Bay Campground until you get to the Old Dock Road. Turn right to go out to the old dock.
 

Last updated: September 18, 2024

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