EF Logo

Visit Presque Isle County

Banner_-_Michigan_Magazine_TV_728x91
Attractions

All businesses and organizations located in this county are eligible to apply for a FREE basic listing in this directory.  Linked and Premium listings are available for a nominal fee.  Click Here!

Adeline Simms Grave Site at Range Light Park, 12653 Grand Lake Road, Presque Isle, MI 49777.  Adeline Simms was the wife of the first lighthouse keeper at Old Range Lighthouse. She died and was buried with a Masonic emblem on her tombstone. Legend has it that the local Masons were having a meeting in the rear range light. After she overheard part of their meeting, they made her a Mason to seal her lips. Hence this is the only Masonic seal on a female grave. This site is part of Sweetwater Trail.

Burham's Landing [Michigan Historic Marker], Burnham's Landing Park, Grand Lake Road
Presque Isle, MI 49777, Phone: (989) 595-2411. Frederick Burnham settled in Michigan in the 1840s. In 1850 he married Julia Clark in Ann Arbor. Beginning in the 1850s, the Burnhams acquired large tracts of Presque Isle County's rich timberlands. Among their holdings was the land purchased in 1868 by the U.S. government, where the Presque Isle Harbor Range Lights were constructed. In the mid-to-late nineteenth century Burnham developed a prosperous mercantile and lumber business here. He constructed two large docks and the roads needed to transport wood to the boat landing, which stood near this site. The harbor, known as Burnham's Landing, provided shelter to ships during foul weather. When Burnham died in 1880, Julia and their son Frederick II assumed management of the family's business. The Burnham home, store and lumber camps were destroyed by the 1908 Metz fire.

Elowsky Mill [Historic Site], Leer Road at intersection of Long Lake Road, Posen.  The Elowsky Mill is a three-story, wood frame, end-gable structure. The mill is located in rural Presque Isle County near the village of Posen. The building sits on the banks of what was the mill pond, formed by the damming of the Thunder Bay River. Although lacking paint, the mill is in a remarkable state of preservation. The four-over-four and two-over-two windows remain intact, and the interior still contains milling equipment.

Forty Mile Point Lighthouse, Lighthouse Park, 7323 US 23 N, Rogers City, MI 49779, Phone: (989) 734-4587. Located on Lake Huron, the Forty Mile Point Light Station consists of a double Keeper's Dwelling with and attached, square, brick light tower. The rectangular brick residence has a gabled roof. The light tower, twelve feet square and fifty-two feet high, is surmounted by an octagonal cast iron lantern. The tower has an outer wall eight inches thick and an inner wall four inches thick supporting the staircase only. The original lens was a Fourth Order Fresnel, with six panels, each with a bull's eye, manufactured by Sautter of Paris. This lens is no longer in place, but there is a Fourth Order Fresnel manufactured by Henri Le Paute exhibited in this lighthouse. The rectangular, brick, Fog Signal Building (1897) is still extant. It has a hipped roof covered with corrugated iron. There are also two brick privies and a brick Oil House on the site.

Great Lakes Lore Maritime Museum, 367 N. 3rd St., Rogers City, MI 49779, Phone: (989) 734-0706. The Great Lakes Lore Maritime Museum in Rogers City offers an opportunity to learn about Great Lakes maritime commerce and the stories of men and women whose vocation is connected to this industry. Uniforms and personal possessions of ship captains and sailors, maritime tools, cabin furniture, foul weather gear, lockers, lifeboats and other items offer a glimpse into the daily lives of Great Lakes mariners. Visitors can see a number of ship miniatures, photographs and drawings of Great Lakes vessels, lighthouses, docks and shipping offices. The museum is also a "Great Lakes Maritime Hall of Fame" with annual inductees joining the individuals whose lives and accomplishments on the Great Lakes are permanently stored and chronicled. The museum is open mid-May until mid-October. Hours are 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and Sunday from noon until 4 p.m. Tours for groups are offered with advance reservations.

Harbor View, Calcite Road, off Woodward, Rogers City, MI 49779, Phone: (989)734-2535.  When Michigan Limestone's Calcite Plant opened in 1914, it took over 35 hours of backbreaking shoveling to load a small ship with just over two tons of limestone. Today, a massive modern freighter can be loaded with 25,000 tons of stone in eight hours or less. At Harbor View, you can get a close-up view of the huge freighters as they load limestone destined for ports all around the Great Lakes. Harbor View is located on the grounds of the world's largest limestone quarry and is open from 8 a.m. until dusk during the Great Lakes shipping season.

Herman Vogler Conservation Area [Cross-Country Skiing, Hiking Trails], Off US 23 on Birchwood Drive, Rogers City, MI 49779, Phone: (989) 734-4000. The HVCA contains more than seven miles of trails, all used by hikers, cross-country skiers, hunters and nature lovers. Four main trails run along Trout River and are beginner, moderate and challenging. The trail system traces a path through a constantly changing blend of habitats that range from hardwood highlands to cedar thickets and marshes.

John C. Kauffman House [Historic Site], 7993 East Grand Lake Road, Presque Isle. The John C. Kauffman House is a one-and-one-half-story, gable-roof structure constructed with walls of square-hewn, horizontal logs joined carefully by half-dovetail corner notching. The house displays a simple, rectangular plan and side-gable form, with a shed roof front porch supported by vertical wooden columns made of tree trunks. A two-story fieldstone chimney stands at the center of the cabin's rear facade. ohn C. Kauffman migrated to America from Tuttlingen, Germany in 1851. Kauffman started as a lumberjack and built a house in 1862 in an area he had cleared. Later that year he had to move his house because of drifting snow. Kauffman was the Township Supervisor and postmaster of Presque Isle until his death in 1913. Kauffman also served in the Civil War.

Knaebe's Mmmunchy Krunchy Apple Farm [Farm Market], 2622 Karsten Road, Rogers City, MI 49779, Phone: (989) 734-2567. 13 acres of apples(we picks 'em,you bags em') an eclectic old barn with homemade apple pies and crisp, caramel apples and donuts, etc; a gift and kitchenware shop, "fractionally fancy foods" including our own apple butter; wagon and pony rides weekends in Sept. and Oct.(weather permitting) and a small but obnoxious critter farm

Metz Fire Informational Designation [Historic Site] On October 15, 1908, raging fires swept the pine forests of Presque Isle County. When the flames approached the village of Metz, a train jammed with women and children left for Posen, five miles away. At Nowicki's siding, two miles out of town, huge piles of blazing wood lined the track. As the engine raced past the siding, where the intense heat had warped the rails, the train left the track, leaving an open car full of refugees in the center of the flames. Sixteen were killed and dozens of others badly burned. Throughout this part of the state hundreds were left homeless, as many homes and farms were devastated. Supplies soon poured in so that shelters could be erected before the onset of the northern winter.

Michigan Limestone and Chemical Company Quarry [World’s Largest Limestone Quarry], East end of Calcite Road, Rogers City.Limestone is a mineral raw material essential in making steel, chemicals, and cement. Henry H. Hindshaw, a geologist, established in 1908-1909 the commercial value of this area's limestone for industry. The high purity of this deposit and the availability of water transportation led to development here of a port and quarry. Both are named Calcite, after the principal ingredient of the stone. The Michigan Limestone and Chemical Company, founded in 1910, began operations in 1912. Purchased by Carl D. Bradley and the United States Steel Corporation in 1920, the company came under the sole ownership of U. S. Steel upon Bradley's death in 1928. In 1951 the company became a division of the corporation. Self-unloader vessels of the division's Bradley Transportation Line carry limestone from this, the world's largest limestone quarry, to industrial ports around the Great Lakes.

New Presque Isle Lighthouse Park and Museum, 4500 East Grand Lake Road, Presque Isle, MI 49777, Phone: (989) 595-5419. The Presque Isle Light Station is a complex of three historic buildings and one contemporary structure located on the Lake Huron shoreline. The light tower is the most significant of the complex's buildings. Constructed in 1870, it is a conical brick structure measuring one hundred and ten feet in height and nineteen feet in base diameter. The light in the tower originally was fixed white with a French-made, third order Fresnel lens ground by Henry Lepaute. The light tower connects to a two-story, gable-roof, brick keeper's dwelling also completed in 1870. The cedar roof of the structure has recently been restored. The third historic building, an unattached, two-story, gambrel-roof keeper's residence constructed of concrete block in 1905 stands nearby. The U.S. Coast Guard automated the light in 1970 and continues to operate it today.The buildings and grounds are open to the public from mid-May to Mid October, from 9 am to 6 pm daily. The 1905 House is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, 11 am to 5 pm, Tueday through Saturday, 1 pm to 5 pm Sunday. closed Mondays.

Old Presque Isle Lighthouse, 5295 E. Grand Lake Road, Presque Isle, MI 49777, Phone: (989) 595-69679. The Old Presque Isle Lighthouse is a complex composed of two main structures, a keeper's dwelling and a light tower. The stone and brick tower measures thirty-feet tall and eighteen-feet in diameter. The deck is made of soap stone and has leaded mortar. The actual light room no longer remains. Nearby is the one-story side-gable brick keeper's dwelling.  The Old Presque Isle Lighthouse is one of the oldest surviving lighthouses on the Great Lakes. Built in 1840 by Jeremial Moors of Detroit, the harbor light operated until 1871 when the light keeper transferred to the new taller coastal lighthouse a mile north. Visitors can climb the hand-hewn stone steps of the thirty foot tall tower for a panoramic view to the Lake Huron shoreline and Presque Isle Harbor. The keeper’s dwelling serves as a hands-on museum. Here visitors can blow fog horns and examine other artifacts. The buildings and park grounds are open to the public daily, from 9 am to 6 pm, mid[-May through mid-October. A nominal fee is charged for climbing the tower.

Presque Isle Electric Cooperative Monument [Historical Site], Between 10957 and 10981 Michigan Street, Posen. The first utility pole set by Presque Isle Electric Cooperative was erected near this site on September 22, 1937. Established in 1935, the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was a New Deal program designed to help cooperatives provide low-cost power to rural areas. On December 22, 1937, The Presque Isle Electric Cooperative energized its first seventy miles of line, from Norway Dam in Alpena to Moltke Township in Presque Isle County, bringing electricity to eighty-two families.

Presque Isle County Courthouse [Historical Site], State and Maple streets, Onaway.  The Presque Isle County Courthouse in Onaway, Michigan, is an asymmetrically massed, two-story, poured concrete block building on a high, random, ashlar fieldstone base. Its design is curiously eclectic with elements of the Italian Villa, Romanesque, and Renaissance Revival styles liberally interpreted and blended in the best of vernacular traditions. The building has a low-pitched hip roof and an overhanging eavesline which is supported by modest paired brackets and a dentilated fascia. A tower that stands off center breaks the traditional Italian Villa eavesline.

Presque Isle County Historical Museum, 176 West Michigan, PO Box 175, Rogers City, MI 49779, Phone: (989) 734-4121. Housed in the Bradley House which is an early 20th century, seven bedroom, two story, single family bungalow built in 1914, a national historic site. This house was the home of the president of Michigan Limestone & Chemical Company, the largest industry in this community. Features furnishings of the early 1920's, Indian artifacts, a 1980's general story, a Victorian music room, and displays on the industries of farming, lumbering, and shipping.

Presque Isle Range Light Park, At Presque Isle Harbor, Presque Isle, MI 49777, Phone: (989)595-6526. By the time the New Presque Isle Light Tower was erected in 1870, Presque Isle Harbor was a routine stop for many vessels conducting trade along the Lake Huron shoreline. A natural harbor of refuge, Presque Isle also provided safe and welcome shelter from sudden and powerful storms. The New Presque Isle Light Tower alerted the mariners to impending dangers while the two smaller Range Lights guided them safely into harbor. When the lights were aligned, the mariner knew the safest and easiest path into-or out of-the harbor. The rear range light included living quarters for a keeper and family and is now a private residence. Modern, automated lights have replaced historic ones, but most of the original structures remain. The old front range light was relocated to the entrance of the Old Presque Isle Lighthouse grounds, where it stood for many years. It was moved back to near its original location in 2004 and there faithfully restored. The grave of Adeline Sims, wife of range light Keeper William Sims, is located to the side of the keeper's path in a small, fenced-in area. Legend has it that while her husband and fellow Masons held meetings in the rear range light, she overheard and memorized secret passages. To seal her lips, she was made a member. Adeline Sims died an invalid in 1881, and was buried with a Masonic emblem on her gravestone. Sims is the only woman so honored by the Masons.

Radka-Bradley House [Historic Site], 176 West Michigan Avenue, Rogers City. The frame, Arts-and-Crafts-inspired George J. Radka-Carl D. Bradley House was built in 1914 by George Radka, a local contractor and planing mill owner. The one-and-one-half-story building features a side-gable roof sheathed in green asphalt shingles with a shed dormer extending most of the way across the front and a one-story, glassed-in, gable-front entrance porch in the center of the asymmetrical, southeast-facing front side. At each end of the house is a one-story, enclosed, side-gable porch. The foundation has a rounded cobblestone finish. The roof rafters have exposed ends with scalloped lower surfaces, and open, triangular brackets support the project eaves at the gable ends. Built in 1914 by George J. Radka, a local contractor and planing mill owner, the Radka-Bradley House is most important as the home of shipping magnate Carl D. Bradley, from 1915 until his death in 1928. Bradley's residence here coincided with his years of service as general manager and president of the Michigan Limestone and Chemical Company. Under Bradley's personal leadership, the company's small scale limestone quarry grew into a vast quarrying and shipping operation that shipped a reported 1,029 cargos of limestone to Great Lake steel mills in 1927. Michigan Limestone became the mainstay of the Rogers City area economy during these years (as it remains today). Carl D. Bradley contributed to the early twentieth-century development and improvement of Rogers City not only through the growth of Michigan Limestone and Bradley Transportation, the shipping subsidiary that employed many local men, but also through his participation in and support of various other community endeavors, including the local electric light company and a community church.

Sinkholes [Natural Attractions], 10 miles southeast of Onaway. 2,600 acre sinkhole area. Rock depressions formed when underground caves collapse after water dissolved limestone bedrock. Dry sinkholes and sinkhole lakes.

Sunrise Side Bicycle Tours, 6442 Beach Drive, Rogers City, MI 49779, Phone: (989)225-0850. Bicycle tour the sunrise side of Northeast Michigan. Personally guided bicycle tours along the uninterrupted coastal shores of Lake Huron. Miles of trails set amongst pines, hardwoods, and fields of green. A natural wonderland. View intriguing underground rivers, and the largest natural waterfall in northern lower Michigan. Take a climb to the top of a light tower and view a shipwreck up close on Lake Huron's shore. Choose from road to mountain bike trails from leisurely excursions along sun-kissed white sandy beaches to challenging mountain bike trails. Discover some of the rare indigineous plant species that call the shores of Lake Huron home. Learn about the ancient legends of the area. Take home great memories and experiences in the north country on the sunrise side of Northeast Michigan with Sunrise Side Bicycle Tours. Custom tours available. All tours include catered lunch in one of nature's picturesque settings.

ADVERTISEMENTS

 

ADVERTISEMENTS

 

[Home] [Hawks] [Millersburg] [Ocqueoc] [Onaway] [Posen] [Presque Isle] [Rogers City] [Attractions] [Dining Out] [Events & Festivals] [Indoor Recreation] [Lodging] [Outdoor Recreation] [Real Estate] [Services] [Shopping] [Advertising With Us] [Contact Us]

Visit Our Websites In Adjoining Counties

Visit Alpena County | Visit Cheboygan County | Visit Montmorency County


15th Anniversary 200x234

  Copyright © 2009-2012. All rights reserved.
Enchanted Forest Web Page Design Service
“Promoting Michigan Businesses Since 1997”
3980 Curtisville Road, South Branch, Michigan 48761
Phone: (989) 726-4416, Email: support@theenchantedforest.net
Last updated on Friday, April 06, 2012. Number of pages 49