A Strong German Heritage

New Baltimore / St. John's Lutheran Church

Date Visited:  August 25, 2019

Stop:  #57

 Kathy and I found it hard to leave our last destination – Youngblood Vineyard – but we still had adventures ahead of us on this day, so we continued our journey eastward across Macomb County and set out for New Baltimore.  We drove 11.3 miles to our next stop, which was the St. John’s Lutheran Church located on the southern corner of Maria Street and Green Street.  The historical marker itself is located on Maria Street, about 75 feet from Green Street.  The marker is a two-sided sign with two different topics.  On the side facing the southeast, the topic is the town of New Baltimore, and the topic on the northwest facing side is St. John’s Lutheran Church.

The New Baltimore side of the marker describes the early history of the city.  Native Americans from the Chippewa tribe lived in this region when the first French explorers, led by Pierre Yax, arrived in 1796.  Yax was actually of German descent.  His father, Michel Johannes Yax, born in Germany in 1709, is credited with being the first German to settle in Michigan, by way of Pennsylvania.  Michel and his wife settled in Grosse Pointe, and in 1763, Pierre was born.

After Pierre and the French explorers settled in the New Baltimore area, naturally, more settlers followed.  Most settled along the waterfront and rivers on plots of land with 400 to 900-foot frontages.  The first purchase of government land was made by Fabian Robertjean on August 20, 1820, in Section 11, near what is now New Baltimore's Washington Street.

In 1845, a Mt. Clemens businessman by the name of Alfred Ashley, platted 60 acres of land lying on both sides of Washington Street.  Ashley built a sawmill and a dock, and the settlement became known as Ashley.  On September 20, 1851, a post office was established and called Ashleyville.  Alfred became the first postmaster.  Alfred continued to stoke the village’s economy by opening businesses in lumbering, shipping, and real estate.  The original village covered an area that is now the central part of downtown New Baltimore.  The settlement continued to grow when a group of German pioneers settled along the Salt River in 1853.  The settlement, still known as Ashley, changed its name to New Baltimore in 1855. 

The village continued to grow and became a bustling port city, shipping out manufactured goods and raw materials from the area.  As the modes of transportation evolved and trains and cars grew in prominence, water travel decreased in importance.  The village began to take on a new look as its main industry shifted from manufacturing to tourism.  More commercial building sprung up – restaurants, an opera house, hotels, etc.  New Baltimore incorporated as a village in 1867 and as a city in 1931.

Today, New Baltimore is a coastal resort community that boasts a vibrant downtown of boutique shops, restaurants, bars, and a winery.  It has a beautiful waterfront park, marina, pier, and beach.  It has a population of 12,403 (as of 2018) residents.  It is a popular summer getaway town with many cottages lining the shore of Anchor Bay.

So, after getting a good history lesson on New Baltimore, we turned our attention to the other side of the historical marker.  This side focused on the history of the Lutheran religion in the area.  As mentioned above, there was an influx of German pioneers to New Baltimore in 1853.  According to the marker, Lutheranism took root in the New Baltimore area in 1863.  Seven German families made up the original congregation of St. John’s Lutheran Church.  Their first minister was Reverend Engels, who served from 1863 to 1871.  Worship services were held in the log cabin home of Fritz Turkow.  Eventually the congregation moved to a chapel (located at the corner of Washington and Green Streets) that they rented from a Baptist church.  They were known as the German Lutheran Church at this time, and they stayed at the chapel for about 5 years. 

In January of 1869, the Honorable Gilbert Hatheway donated to the congregation $100 and a plot of land at Green and Maria Streets so they could build their own church.  The church was completed in 1870.  Services were held in German until 1916, when English was introduced for one service per month.  By 1934, services were held exclusively in English.

In 1905, the church, now known as the St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, purchased a Hinners mechanical action organ, which is still in use today.  In May of 1916, the church was raised several feet so a basement could be dug.  The same year, the congregation made other renovations including the construction of an altar niche, a furnace room, a kitchen, added new oak pews, wired the church for electricity, and added carpeting.  In 1955, an additional building was added next to the church.  The Michigan Historical Plaque was awarded to the church in 1979.  The church, known for its tall steeple, still holds services twice per Sunday – 8:00 am and 10:30 am (due to COVID-19, services times and formats may be different).

#michiganwinesandsigns #michigan #history #michiganhistory #wine #michiganwine #winetasting #lovemiwine #historyisbetterwithwine

Blown Away

Youngblood Vineyard

Date Visited:  August 25, 2019

Stop:  #56

 One of the best things about our Michigan Wines and Signs quest is visiting a new venue with no expectations whatsoever, and then just being blown away.  Such was the experience we had at Youngblood Vineyard.

Kathy and I left Wolcott Mill and headed south on Wolcott Rd. to 29 Mile Rd. where we turned left and headed east.  After 1.1 miles, we came to Indian Trail (a dirt road) and made a right, which pointed us in the southeast direction.  At about ¼ mile, we made a slight right-hand turn onto Ray Center Road (also a dirt road) and headed due south.  From there, we drove about 0.38 miles and came to a driveway on the right-hand side (west side).  This was the entrance to Youngblood Vineyards!!

So, before I go any further, let me list some of the reasons why this place blew us away:

• The tasting room is a covered pavilion not too far from the road on the north side of the driveway.  It was brand new, with a poured concrete floor, a beautiful bar, and several tables to sit around.  Drinking wine outside in the fresh air, with the vineyard as our backdrop, made for a special wine tasting experience.
• When we parked the car, we were immediately greeted by CHICKENS!!!  They followed us to the bar – kinda like our personal escort!
• Jessica, the co-owner, with her husband Dave, was the absolute best host.  She had a passion for her craft that was contagious.
• This vineyard is a family affair – Jess’s mother-in-law was working the bar, Jess’s son, we learned, was the most requested tour guide for vineyard tours, her two daughters work the fields and help with the wine process.
• They have a giant rabbit that hangs out with the chickens.
• They have two huge Great Pyrenees dogs.  Gentle giants.
• Jess and Dave’s story is fascinating
• Oh, and by the way, their wine is fantastic!!!

We were fortunate to find a couple seats at the bar and were immediately greeted by Jess.  We struck up a conversation with her and a couple of other people sitting at the bar while we looked at their wine offering.  Between Jess and her mother-in-law, we learned about the history of Youngblood Vineyards.  They officially opened for business in May, 2019.  The farm has actually been in Dave’s family since 1945, and after spending nearly 20 years living in different wine regions around the US, Dave and Jess came back to Ray Township and settled on the family farm.  At the time, the farm consisted of fields of soybeans, corn, and Christmas trees, many planted by Dave’s grandfather back in the 1950’s.  In 2016, Dave and Jess decided to clear all the fields and plant a vineyard.  They had established a relationship with the University of Minnesota, which had developed a special cold-hardy grape that would grow perfectly in this region’s climate.  They planted 23,000 vines that year and enclosed the vineyard in a mile’s worth of fencing.  Today, the farm consists of 25 acres, the equivalent of over 26 miles worth of vines.  They built a pavilion near the end of their driveway, and this serves as their tasting room.  On the backside of their bar, they had on display the trophy they had won at the Michigan Wine Competition for Best in Class in the Dry Red Wine category with their 2018 Marquette.  An amazing accomplishment for a first-year winery. 

Jess and Dave have made the farm a very kid-friendly place.  At the time of our visit, the Youngblood’s had some overgrown land that they were going to clear and dedicate to a local 4H program so that kids could learn the ins and outs of planting and managing a vineyard.  We also learned that their young son had become the most requested vineyard tour guide on the farm.  They also had a small collection of animals that kids of all ages could pet and hang out with.  All in all, the Youngblood story was very fascinating and interesting. 

So, it was finally time to taste the fruits of their labors, so the tasting was quite simple.  Youngblood Vineyard’s full menu consisted of 5 wines – one white, one rosé, and 3 reds, all relatively dry.  All tastings, which cost $10 per person, consisted of a sample of each of their 5 wines.  We just started at the top of the menu and worked our way down:

•  2018 Frontenac Blanc:  100% Frontenac Blanc aged in stainless steel.  Off dry/semi-sweet white wine with 2% residual sugar.
• 2018 Rosé of Petite Pearl:  75% Petite Pearl and 25% Prairie Star aged in stainless steel.  Off dry/semi-sweet rosé with 1.8% residual sugar.
• 2018 Marquette:  100% Marquette aged in neutral French oak barrels.  Dry red wine with 0.7% residual sugar (do NOT refrigerate).
• 2018 Petite Pearl:  100% Petite Pearl.  88% aged in stainless steel and 12% aged in neutral French oak barrels. Off-dry red wine lightly sweetened to 1.2% residual sugar with Bees in the D honey (do NOT refrigerate).
• 2018 Frontenac:  75% Frontenac aged in stainless steel and 25% Petite Pearl aged in neutral French oak barrels.  Semi-sweet/sweet red wine with 3% residual sugar (do NOT refrigerate).

Neither Kathy nor I are big dry-wine drinkers, but these wines were pleasantly enjoyable to us.  My favorite was the 2018 Frontenac (not surprising, I guess, since it had the highest percent residual sugar of the 5 wines we sampled) and Kathy’s favorite was the 2018 Rosé of Petite Pearl.  We both really enjoyed the Marquette, which was really surprising since it was the driest of the wines we sampled.  At the end of the day, we walked out of there with one of each bottle and an additional bottle of the Marquette.  More importantly, Youngblood’s had become one of our favorite wineries and we could not wait for an opportunity to return.

And fortunately for us, that opportunity presented itself a couple of weeks later.  Both Kathy and I started following Youngblood Vineyard on Instagram and saw in one of their posts that they were looking for volunteers to help harvest grapes.  We tried to sign up for that weekend, but all the spots were taken.  Luckily, they advertised for volunteers for the following weekend and we were lucky to get a spot.  Not only that, but we got spots for two of our best friends, Randy and Christie, as well.  So, on September 15, we returned to Youngblood’s to pick grapes.  There must have been a hundred people there that day, and leading the activity was one of our favorite servers from Michigan by the Bottle (Auburn Hills), Kelly.  Kelly taught everyone the tricks to snipping grape clusters and assigned everyone areas within the rows of vines to work.  We were there to harvest Petite Pearl grapes to be used in their 2019 Rosé of Petite Pearl.  It was a perfect day to be in the vineyard, and we spent a good 2 hours picking grapes.  It was incredible how many grapes we harvested, and it was really a lot of fun.  Kathy and I helped pass out the lunch tickets while Kelly collected all the snipping tools.  Then all the harvesters gathered for a group picture in front of the rows of vines we had just worked on.

Dave and Jess then hosted a wonderful lunch for all the volunteers.  They had pulled-pork sandwiches, mac & cheese, and a pasta salad catered in.  The food was absolutely fantastic, and I wish I could remember who catered it so I could give them a shout-out.  With the lunch, we each got two pours of wine to drink.  After the lunch, they had two huge sheet cakes brought in for dessert – one chocolate, and one yellow.  And finally, as a final reward, we each got a complementary bottle of any wine we desired.  I chose the Frontenac, and Kathy went with the Marquette.  We all had a great time.  In fact, the day far exceeded our expectations and just reinforced our feelings for Youngblood’s.

Because their tasting room is outdoors, Youngblood Vineyard closes for the season around mid-October.  The COVID pandemic delayed their opening this year, so, needless to say, a lot has happened since our initial visits to Youngblood Vineyard.  However, they have retained a special place in our hearts for the following reasons:

• Jess puts together the most entertaining Instagram posts, my favorites being the ones about the escapades of their chickens.  Hilarious stuff.  Through these posts, we stayed connected and informed of life on the vineyard and special events.
• As part of a special Mother’s Day promotion, I ordered one of their special gift bags for Kathy and was unable to pick up the gift during the scheduled pick-up time because of a previous commitment.  Jess was so gracious to hold onto my gift bag and set time aside from her busy schedule to be available for a special pick-up several days later.
• They have added baby goats to their menagerie and host baby goat yoga sessions in the vineyard.
• They host entertaining and creative events.  Their events in affiliation with the iconic Whitney restaurant from Detroit sound amazing.  Weddings and special dinners in the vineyard.  What a perfect venue for such events!!!
• Voted "BEST WINERY" and "BEST PLACE TO DRINK OUTDOORS" by Hour Detroit Best of 2020.  Well deserved recognition after only a year in operation.

After months of managing and navigating the uncertainty of COVID, we finally visited Youngblood’s on September 26, 2020, over a year since our last visit.  It was a perfect fall day in Michigan, and we were not the only ones who thought drinking great wine outdoors on a perfect day would be a good idea.  Youngblood’s was teeming with activity.  We were fortunate that a table freed up just as we arrived, and as we sat down, I counted nearly 40 cars parked along the driveway leading up to the house.  It was incredibly crowded, and the Youngblood staff was working in overdrive.  Youngblood’s had expanded their seating capacity by adding many tables and chairs on the grass surrounding the pavilion.  They also had guests sitting on their wrap-around porch at their house, and there were other groups sitting under trees across the yard from the pavilion.  On two different occasions while we were there, Dave had to bring in extra tables and chairs from their barn.  Youngblood’s had also expanded their animal pen area, and enclosed a large area with a fence to allow their animals to move about outside their pens. 

Despite all the activity going on, we saw a familiar face working that day and she greeted us and took care of pouring our wine throughout our visit.  The familiar face was Kelly!!!  It was so great reconnecting with her since we had not seen her since before the COVID pandemic had started.  Since that time, she and her boyfriend, Nathan (who also works at Michigan by the Bottle and at Youngblood’s) had announced their engagement, so we finally had a chance to congratulate her.  It was great catching up, and it was great hearing her tell us about the wines each time she brought us a new sample. 

The menu had expanded a bit since our first visit to Youngblood’s.  Added to the lineup was:

•  2019 Frontenac Blanc
• 2019 Rosé of Petite Pearl
• 2019 Petite Pearl
• 2019 Marquette
• 2019 Detroit Reserve – Port:  100% Frontenac wine fortified with 100% Frontenac brandy distilled at Detroit City Distillery.  Single varietal port style wine aged in neutral French oak barrels.

Also available were some holdovers from last year:

• 2018 Petite Pearl
• 2018 Frontenac

We got to sample each of the wines as part of the tasting, again for $10 per person.  The 2019 vintage wines were just as good if not better than the 2018 vintage.  But what we were really looking forward to was a taste of their new Port, just released this year.  And again, we were not disappointed.  With only 3% residual sugar content, it is a semi-dry port with a real rich taste that left a warm feeling going down (the brandy, I suspect!).  All I know is that both Kathy and I enjoyed it.

So, after a thoroughly enjoyable visit, it was time to cash out, but not before we ordered a bottle of the 2019 Rosé of Petite Pearl, the wine we had helped pick grapes for last year.  We tried to get a bottle of the 2018 Frontenac, but no bottles were available for sale (only for tastings and pours).  We already had a couple of bottles of Port that we had purchased when Youngblood’s released it for sale during a special introduction, otherwise we would have walked away with a couple bottles of that.  All in all, it was another wonderful experience at Youngblood’s and just reinforced why we have a special place in our heart for this vineyard and the incredible team that runs it.

#michiganwinesandsigns #michigan #history #michiganhistory #wine #michiganwine #winetasting #lovemiwine #historyisbetterwithwine

Not Your Run-of-the-Mill Mill

Wolcott Mill

Date Visited:  August 25, 2019

Stop:  #55

 The next stop on our Michigan Wines and Signs tour through Macomb County was less than a mile away from our visit to Ray Township District No. 1 School and the Religious Society Church.  It is one of the more popular sites to visit in the area and is one of the main attractions in the Wolcott Mill Metropark.  The Metropark is huge – it runs from 26 Mile Road on its southern border to 31 Mile Road on its northern border.  Its eastern border is defined by Ray Center Road, Indian Trail, and Wolcott Road, and at it’s widest, is nearly 2 1/3 miles wide.  It is often referred to as three parks in one.  At the northern end is a late 20th-century working farm.  On the east side of the park is Camp Rotary.  In the central area is the Historic Center.

The working farm is comprised of 250 acres and is the only public farm in the state of Michigan where all 6 heritage breeds of dairy cow – Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, Jersey, Milking Short Horn, and Holstein – reside year-round.  There are a wide variety of other farm animals to see, including miniature horses, draft horses, sheep, goats, and a variety of farm fowl.  You can also visit the greenhouse and various gardens, and when available, can take a horse-drawn wagon ride through the crop fields.  This is a popular place for families with young children.

Camp Rotary offers indoor and outdoor camping and access to miles of trails for hiking, and for horseback riding.  The camp includes an Activity Center, the Shorian Lodge, and a Horse Staging Area.  You can ride 2 different equestrian trails – the West Loop that runs for 4.7 miles, and the East Loop that runs 3.7 miles.

The focus of our visit was in the Historic Center.  There are two ways to access this part of the Metropark.  The main entrance is off of Kunstman Road, about 0.6 miles north of 29 Mile Road.  This access road is called Historic Center Drive, and if you follow it for a little over 0.8 miles, you will come to a parking area.  From there, you have to hike about 0.17 miles to get to the location of the historical marker.  The second entrance, and the one we chose to use, is located just south of Indian Trail on Wolcott Road.  From this dirt and gravel parking lot, you walk about 500 feet south through the Wolcott Mill grounds to get to the historical marker.  On the grounds of the Historic Center, there is a barn (now used as a barn museum), the millpond, and a truck garage.  You will encounter antique farming equipment and a restored Model T dump truck.  There is also a corncob building, a modern gazebo, and a toll road building, but the centerpiece of the Historic Center is the Wolcott Mill, itself.  This mill, one of the oldest mills in Michigan, is the subject matter of the historic marker.

The mill was built in 1847 by Arad Freeman, one of the early settlers in Macomb County.  It was used as a grist mill and a feed mill.  The mill passed through many owners until Fred B. Wolcott purchased it in 1878.  Wolcott was born in Pennsylvania in 1845 and lived there for 20 years before beginning an odyssey that took him to 5 different states before settling for the second time in Nebraska in 1869.  Married in 1870, Wolcott continued to work and improve his homestead until he traded this property for the mill in Michigan that now bears his name.

The Wolcott family made a lot of changes over the years as technology evolved and improved the milling process.  The historical marker tells us that the breastshot waterwheel was replaced by a turbine in 1881.  Then in 1890, the millstones were replaced by more efficient metal rollers, and then they were upgraded again in 1917.  Waterpower was supplemented by electric power in the 1920’s.  The mill gained the reputation of producing the best high-quality flour in the area, and a number of large Detroit bakeries used Wolcott flour in their baked goods.  Wolcott Mill met the same fate that most early mills met – the inability to match the mass production capabilities of larger, more modern mills – and as business declined, the Wolcott family finally sold the mill in 1967.  The Huron-Clinton Metroparks acquired the mill in 1979 for use as an historic interpretive site.  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.  Much of the original equipment is still in place, and the mill still operates on a limited basis, however, the mill is temporarily closed at the recommendation of its insurance company based on a recent inspection.  It will remain closed until the structure is inspected by a structural engineer.

Kathy and I spent a significant amount of time exploring the grounds.  We were not so bold as to explore any of the three walking trails in the area, but we did spend time visiting each of the buildings, looking at the waterwheel, the antique farm equipment scattered about the grounds, and the truck garage, which had a couple of antique pick-up trucks sitting inside.  We even watched some sort of photoshoot taking place on the grounds featuring a barefoot model.  In any event, for such a perfect day, these were the only other people in sight, so it was quite enjoyable having the whole place to ourselves.  But the thought of drinking some wine started tugging at us, so we took some final photos of the gazebo and headed back to our car to make the short journey to our first winery of the day.

 #michiganwinesandsigns #michigan #history #michiganhistory #wine #michiganwine #winetasting #lovemiwine #historyisbetterwithwine

Two for the Price of One, Part 2

Religious Society Church

Date Visited:  August 25, 2019

Stop:  #54

 It has been awhile since we posted our last blog, and I apologize for that.  I was the victim of a major technological disaster.  I had started writing this blog 4 weeks ago and had half of it written when I decided to call it a day.  I came back the next day and was downloading some photographs off of my phone when all of a sudden, the computer completely locked up.  I was able to shut the computer down, but when I tried to start it up again, I got the black screen of death and an error message stating that the operating system could not be found.  My hard drive had crashed!!!  The next day, I took the laptop in to a tech specialist, and found out that all the data on the hard drive could not be extracted.  I lost everything – all my photo files, all my blog documents and slides, my maps with all the correct historical marker locations - everything.  I had the hard drive replaced and remembered that I had backed-up my data back in April, so I was excited to know that at least some of my data could be retrieved.  But, for the second day in a row, technology would fail me.  The backup had failed and no data had been transferred.  I was devastated and it took me several days to get over that.  I actually thought about giving up on the blog, but over the past 3 weeks, I have spent countless hours reconstructing all my files and creating all my photo files and recreating all my maps.  I am finally all the way back to where I was (for the most part), and ready to get back to writing our blogs.

Having visited the Ray Township District No. 1 School, we knew the Religious Society Church was just across the parking lot, so after snapping a couple more photographs, I headed across the lot to find the historical marker for the church.  Fortunately, Kathy was astute enough to check the backside of the Ray Township District No. 1 School marker and noticed that the marker also doubled as the marker for the Church as well.  It’s not uncommon to have a two-sided sign with a different topic on each side – we have blogged about several so far.  What makes this marker unique is that it has two different Historical Marker Identification numbers.  Two, for the price of one!

The First Religious Society of Ray was organized on February 16, 1869 and included 5 members.  The church was built in December of 1869 on land donated by Arad Freeman, one of the members of Ray’s founding families.  The church was originally known as the Ray Union Church.  The original church building had a steeple and the building design was very similar to the neighboring Mill School.  The church was officially dedicated on June 22, 1872 and the name officially became the First Religious Society of Ray on February 16, 1887.  The Society disbanded early in 1950, and on February 8 of that year, the Township of Ray purchased the church for $1.00.  On June 6, 1950, the Ray Township Board agreed to rules governing the use of the former church building as the new Township Hall.  Later that same year, the original church belfry was removed.  The former Ray Union Church was listed on the Michigan Register of Historic Places, Site No. 1389, on March 19, 1987.  The State of Michigan historic marker was erected at the site on February 28, 2002.  The marker was purchased with donations of $1,635 from local businesses.  Today, the building serves as the Ray Township Senior Center, and it also houses some municipal offices.

There was so much history in this one spot, so I really enjoyed it.  But our next stop would be to one of the more popular historical sites in Ray Township, so it was time to move on.

#michiganwinesandsigns #michigan #history #michiganhistory #wine #michiganwine #winetasting #lovemiwine #historyisbetterwithwine

Two for the Price of One, Part 1

Ray Township District No. 1 School

Date Visited:  August 25, 2019

Stop:  #53

One of the most fun aspects about our Michigan Wines and Signs quests is that, no matter how much we prepare, we invariably encounter surprises and/or adventure.  Our next stop would offer something we had never encountered before.

After concluding our visit to The First Methodist Episcopal Church historical marker in Davis, Michigan, we hopped onto Romeo Plank Road and drove north 2 miles to 29 Mile Road.  We made a right and headed east until we came to Wolcott Road (about 1.76 miles).  We turned left and headed north until Wolcott Road ended at Indian Trail, about 0.57 miles, and made another left.  On the left- hand side, just over 500 feet from Wolcott Road, was the location of our next destination.  Now, because I had researched our route for the day, I knew that we were going to visit two historical buildings at this location.  The first was the Ray Township District No. 1 School, and the second (located right next door) was the Religious Society Church.  So, of course, we were anticipating two historical markers.

Since the Ray Township District No. 1 School was the first building, we decided to visit that site first.  We located the historical marker at the northern-most entrance to the parking lot, situated about halfway between the two buildings we would visit.  From the marker, we learned that Ray area farmers built the school in 1863.  It was popularly known as the Mill School (since Wolcott Mill, another historical site, was located nearby).  This school conducted classes for kindergartners through eighth graders for 91 years.  In 1953, the Ray Township School District consolidated with the Romeo School District, which had no further plans for the school so they transferred ownership of the property to Ray Township.  For many years, the township used the building for elections and community meetings, and in 1983, the school became the Ray Township Library.  It still serves in that capacity today.

The building architecture is Greek Revival. The frame structure was built by neighborhood farmers and is a traditional one-room school house design - 26 ft. wide by 40 ft. deep.  It has a one-story front-gable, clapboard siding, and it is topped by a double-gabled open belfry.  On February 16, 1989, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Kathy and I took our typical slew of pictures of the building and its surroundings.  Since it was a Sunday, the library was closed (Hours of Operation:  Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday 1:00 to 8:00 pm, Tuesday 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, Saturday 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, and CLOSED on Friday and Sunday).  It would have been fun to go inside, but it would not be an option on this day.  I began to walk across the parking lot in the direction of our next historical building to look for the historical sign.  In the meantime, Kathy made sure that we did not repeat our Rookie Mistake (not reading the backside of the sign to make sure there wasn’t anymore information written) when she yelled to me that the historical marker for the school also doubled as the historical marker for the Religious Society Church, each with its own unique Marker Identification number.  I would have never considered that, so Kathy saved us a lot of time looking for a sign that was right in front of our eyes the whole time, and just reinforced that we always need to check BOTH sides of every marker we visit.  I will save the rest of the story for the next blog!

#michiganwinesandsigns #michigan #history #michiganhistory #wine #michiganwine #winetasting #lovemiwine #historyisbetterwithwine

The Beginning of Another Adventure

First Methodist Episcopal Church

Date Visited:  August 25, 2019

Stop:  #52

It was Saturday night.  Kathy and I were having dinner at The Red Ox located across the street from the Oakland University campus.  We had just spent the day at a one-year-old’s birthday party, and then visited six historical sites in and around Commerce Township.  I was excited about what we had accomplished this day – knocking 6 more historical markers off our quest (actually 5, since one of them was missing) - and wanted to spend the next day doing the same.  I knew the only way that would fly with Kathy was that Sunday’s trip would HAVE to include wineries.  She seemed open to the idea, so I spent a large part of Saturday night mapping out a route that would include historical markers and wineries.  The route I mapped would take us to 6 historical markers and 2 wineries, with all locations being in Macomb County.  So, I dubbed this quest the Macomb County Tour, and proposed it to Kathy.  I got the official thumbs up.  

It was now Sunday morning.  It was gorgeous outside.  We thought we had a perfect day on Saturday, but this day was even better.  We had returned home from church and immediately began to prepare for our day on the road.  Since our tour would take us out to New Baltimore and close to Anchor Bay, we packed a picnic lunch with the hopes of eating lunch in a park on the bay.  I was very excited about the prospects for the day.  Would my expectations be exceeded, met, or dashed?  Follow this blog and the next 7 to find out!

 We left the house by 11:00 am and headed east on Tienken.  It occurred to me that we were going to drive right past historic Stoney Creek Village, and if you recall (assuming you have read my blogs), I had messed up a month earlier.  We had visited the Mount Moriah historical marker within the Stoney Creek Village and made the rookie mistake of not checking the second side of the marker.  See our blog “A Rookie Mistake” (https://michiganwinesandsigns.blogspot.com/2020/01/a-rookie-mistake.html).  As a result, we missed seeing the write-up featuring Stony Creek Masonic Lodge No. 5.  This would be the opportunity to fix that mistake, so we pulled into the village and parked at the beginning of the footpath that led to the historical marker.  Kathy was not up for the walk, so she stayed in the car and I made the short trek to the marker, read the backside of the sign, took the requisite pictures (no selfie, though!!), and headed back to the car.  Mission accomplished.  We were not even 10 minutes into our plan and we already had to deviate (our first, but not our only deviation on this day!!).  But it was worth closing that loop, and the images I took appear in the blog that I posted at the link above.

So, having corrected our mistake, we continued our real quest by jumping back onto Tienken and continuing east.  Our first “official” stop for this day’s quest took us to the intersection of 27 Mile Road and Romeo Plank Road.  There, on the northeast corner, literally a couple of feet off the road, stood the subject of our first historical marker – The First Methodist Episcopal Church of Davis, Michigan, within Ray Township.  We made a left turn onto Romeo Plank so we could enter the very small parking lot that boxed in the church on the north and east side (while 27 Mile road boxed in the church on the south side and Romeo Plank boxed it in on the west side).  Seeing as it was Sunday morning, services were taking place at the time of our visit, so we were very lucky to find one parking spot left in the small lot.  The historical marker is located at the southwest corner of the church, just outside the main entrance, so we headed right for the marker so we could get reading and snapping pictures before the services ended.

There is little information on the history of this building beyond what is written on the historical marker.  The Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in Brooklyn (now Davis), Michigan in 1844 by the Reverend Jonathon Davis.  The congregation built their first church in 1846.  The current building was constructed in 1895 in a Victorian architectural style - a very common construction style for residences, but very unique for a church.  The church has many Victorian features, such as spindles, shingles, and sunbursts.  The Church was renamed the Davis United Methodist Church in 1968.  Today, it is home to the Faith Baptist Church, which took ownership of the building in March 2010.  Typically, they hold services every Sunday morning at 10:30, but in the age of COVID-19, services and times vary.

The architecture of the church makes it very photogenic, but getting a good picture of the church, because of its close proximity to the road, forced me to cross the street to get the best shots.  So, that’s what I did, and, of course, Kathy thought that was funny so she had to take pictures of me taking pictures (one of them is included below).  Of course, Kathy had to take pictures of the many flowers planted around the church, so I had to make sure to get a picture of her taking pictures (none of which made the final copy).  In any event, our visit there lasted only a couple of minutes, but it was a great way to ease into our busy day.

#michiganwinesandsigns #michigan #history #michiganhistory #wine #michiganwine #winetasting #lovemiwine #historyisbetterwithwine

The Castle

Orchard Lake Schools / Joseph Tarr Copeland

Date Visited:  August 24, 2019

Stop:  #51

We did not know that we had reached a milestone at our last stop (Orchard Lake Chapel) – our 50^th site visited since we began our Michigan Wines and Signs quest 84 days ago.  So, as we got back into our car at the Orchard Lake Chapel, my only thoughts were on making sure we did not inadvertently pass by any historical markers like we almost did with our last stop.  Checking our Google Maps file, I noticed that there was at least one more historical marker in the area that we could visit before we called it a day.  Jumping back onto Commerce Road, we continued east until we got to Indian Trail, at which point I turned right and headed south along the eastern shoreline of Orchard Lake.  On our left was the Orchard Lake St. Mary’s campus.  We had been to this campus several times in the past – all to watch our son, David, play hockey, at the beautiful ice arena located there, known as the S.M.A.C.  But for as many times as we had been there, we never had taken the time to explore the campus, so we had no idea that there was an historical marker located onsite.  The coordinates we had from our Gold Source gave us a location, so we parked nearby, and set out to find the marker.  True to form, the marker was not located where our Gold Source said it would be, so we had to search the area.  It actually took us quite awhile to find it because the marker was nearly 300 feet away and somewhat obscured by foliage and the shadows being cast as the sun set over Orchard Lake.  However, our perseverance prevailed and we found it under a tree and next to The Castle.

The Castle is not the topic of the historical marker, but it is by far the most unique and recognizable building on the campus.  It does play a prominent role in the history of the campus, as we soon learned by reading the historical marker.  There are actually two subject matters for this sign.  The “front” side is dedicated to Orchard Lake Schools.  The Castle was actually the first building built on what would eventually become a military school.  Joseph Tarr Copeland bought 90 acres of land in this area and set his sights on building his retirement home on the shores of Orchard Lake.  In 1858, that home became a reality - a Romanesque Revival house resembling a Norman castle.  By 1877, Copeland decided to sell his home and the remaining land he had in the area.  The buyer was a professor of Military Science and Tactics at Detroit High School.  Joseph Sumner Rogers had wanted to start a creditable military prep school in the Detroit area, and with financial help from some wealthy Detroiters, he purchased the Copeland property and established the Michigan Military Academy.  Rogers modeled the school after West Point, and it became a very successful endeavor.

The Academy became very prestigious during its 30-year history.  It had a total of 2,558 enrollees and 458 graduates.  Tuition was $500 per year in the 1880’s, and many of the enrollees were the sons of wealthy upper-class Detroit area businessmen.  There were three levels of training at the school – Infantry, Artillery, and Cavalry.  The cadets wore uniforms modeled after those worn at West Point, they were taught to shoot a .45 caliber Springfield rifle, and those with musical skills were encouraged to join the marching band.  Many of its classes won National Drill Competitions.  One of the Academy’s most memorable days occurred on June 19, 1879, when 10,000 people arrived on the campus to listen to a commencement speech given by William Tecumseh Sherman, the General in Chief of the US Army, and Civil War hero.  Sherman gave a variant of his famous “War is Hell” speech.

The campus consisted of 19 buildings with the aforementioned “Castle” being the oldest.  The Academic Building was completed in 1890 and it was the center of academic life on campus. Additional buildings included a Riding Hall (1881), Cadets Barracks (1884), Engine House (1889), and a Gymnasium (1896).  All of these buildings are still standing and are still in use. 

In the early 1900’s, the Academy went bankrupt, due in large part to an aggressive and expensive expansion plan the included the addition of 9 new buildings at a cost of $350,000.  Rogers was unable to effectively manage the debt incurred by this plan and the Academy sunk into financial turmoil.  At the same time, students began to protest the harsh conditions and treatment they endured at the Academy, acts of defiance that Rogers believed many of his staff members instigated.  As a result, he fired many of these teachers.  With the campus embroiled in debt and turmoil, Rogers died in September of 1901, and management of the academy was left to his wife and to his good friend, General Charles King.  Enrollment began to decline precipitously, and by 1908, the Academy closed its doors.  The Academy had many notable alumni who went on to serve the US as politicians or military officers.  Two alumni of note:  Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author of the Tarzan Novels, and John C. Lodge, former mayor of Detroit and the namesake of the Lodge Freeway in Detroit.

In 1910, Fr. Joseph Dabrowski, the director of the Polish Seminary of Detroit, purchased the former military campus and moved his school there.  The seminary has remained there since, although it is now called SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary.  The campus is also home to St. Mary's Preparatory, which has a rich history of graduating elite athletes.

The “back” side of the historical marker is devoted to Joseph Tarr Copeland.  He was born in New Castle, Maine on May 6, 1813 and died on his 80^th birthday in Orange Park, Florida.  He and his wife, who died January 10, 1888, are buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Pontiac, Michigan.  The historical marker focuses on the 34 years that he lived in Michigan. 

He and his wife moved to St. Clair in 1844.  He became very involved in politics, holding many different political offices, even serving as Senator in the Michigan Legislature for a year (1850-1851).  In 1851, he was elected Circuit Judge and concurrently became the 14th Michigan Supreme Court Justice.  After his election, he moved to Pontiac and began amassing large quantities of land in northern Michigan (during a six-year period beginning in 1854, he acquired nearly 6,400 acres of timberland).  He had become extremely interested in the lumber industry and opened the first saw mill in Bay City.  Copeland resigned his position as Circuit and Supreme Court Judge in 1857 due to health reasons and moved to West Bloomfield Township.  In 1858, he built the “Castle” overlooking Orchard Lake. 

When the Civil War began, Copeland offered his services and was commissioned and mustered on August 22, 1861 as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 1st Michigan Volunteer Cavalry Regiment.  During the war, he rose through the ranks and eventually became a Brigadier General.  He was relieved of his duties on the eve of the Battle at Gettysburg due, in large part, to his advanced age.  He took lesser military positions throughout the remainder of the war and finally resigned in November, 1865 and moved back to West Bloomfield Township.

As Copeland settled into retirement, he began to sell off tracts of his property for profit.  As the area gained popularity with summer tourists and vacationers, Copeland enlarged his home and converted it into the Orchard Lake Hotel in 1871.  Business at the hotel was good for several years, but as the area continued to develop, many of the tourists and vacationers sought areas further north to escape the hustle and bustle of city life.  The Panic of 1873 created additional financial hardship for Copeland.  In 1877, he sold his home and surrounding property to Joseph Sumner Rogers, and in 1878, he and his wife moved to Orange Park, Florida.

This was a lot of history to take in and absorb so late in the day.  It was time for some exercise, so Kathy and I spent the rest of our visit exploring the campus.  Since school was not in session, we practically had the whole campus to ourselves.  We walked through the quad enjoying the architecture of the buildings comprising this area of the campus.  As usual, we took plenty of pictures, and ended our visit with a drive through the rest of the campus.  It was finally time for dinner, so we left the campus and continued our journey east, deciding finally to stop at Red Ox across from the Oakland University campus.  We ate outside in their patio area - the perfect venue to end our busy day.

 

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A Retrospective – Our First Fifty

We started our Michigan Wines and Signs Quest on June 2, 2019.  On August 24, 2019 (84 days later) we visited the 50^th site on our quest to visit every Michigan Historical Marker and every Michigan Winery and Tasting Room.  We did not know what to expect when we set out on that day back in June, but what we have found out since is that it has been more interesting and fun than we expected.  We have met so many interesting and wonderful people.  We have encountered obstacles along the way – signs not located where they were supposed to be, signs missing altogether – and we have tasted some remarkable wines.  To celebrate our first 50, I thought I would provide some facts/stats/opinions about what we have seen so far.

The breakdown of the sites we have visited looks like this:

• 9 wineries/tasting rooms
• 41 historical markers
• 12 historical buildings
• 10 churches
• 5 cemeteries
• 4 Points of Interest
• 2 historical towns
• 2 schools
• 1 golf course
• 1 historic city block
• 1 historic monument
• 1 historic storm site
• 1 library
• 1 missing sign

Our longest quest was one we embarked on back on August 3, 2019.  We visited 15 historical markers and 2 wineries over a span of 9 ½ hours and covered 164.7 miles.

We have been as far north as Caseville, as far east as Lexington, as far south as Commerce Township, and as far west as Hartland, and a whole lot of places in between.

Total miles covered during our first 50 sites – 428.4 miles.

Most Pleasant Surprises: 

• Sage Creek Winery.  We had never heard of Memphis, Michigan, but we sure know it now, thanks to Sage Creek Winery.  What a great place.  A diamond in the rough.  Great wine, great selection, cool atmosphere.
• Hoffman Farms Winery.  A winery located on an historic horse farm.  The wines and ciders were awesome, the hospitality was wonderful, and we met some really interesting people.
• 3 North Vines Winery.  We could have sat there all day – perfect weather, sitting under a tree overlooking the vineyard, and drinking incredible wine, with the most friendly staff taking unbelievable care of us (and everyone else).
• Unwined Winery.  Located in the most unusual place (a strip mall in a large city), but with the most interesting owners regaling us with their story all the while drinking from a large selection of wines that just happened to be excellent.  Their ports are to die for.

Biggest Disappointments:

• Any historical marker that had nothing to show for it!! (The Thing, The Village of Cash)
• The missing historical marker at Byers Homestead
• Spicer Orchards Winery.  Understaffed, long waits in between pours, curious pay-before-you-get policy – chalking it up to a bad day, so will revisit, but we had high expectations and they were truly not met.
• Improperly documented coordinates for many historical markers, most notably the Old Prospect Hill Cemetery and Commerce United Methodist Congregation.

The Most Fun Historical Places We Visited:

• Dibbleville.  Timing is everything.  We were there during Fenton’s annual River Fest, with music wafting in the air from across the street.  And a live volcano just across the parking lot!
• Loop-Harrison House.  Again, timing is everything.  We just happened to stop the same weekend as their annual Civil War Festival.  It’s like walking around a mini-Greenfield village!
• Old Town Hall and Masonic Temple in Lexington.  Let’s see – an awesome winery, and a brewery, and a restaurant, all inside an historic building with lots of character.  It was like hitting the lottery!
• HONORABLE MENTION:  Byers Homestead.  Although the historical marker no longer exists on this site, it was a lot of fun walking the grounds and soaking in the history.

Special Moments:

• Crawford Settlement Burying Ground.  Our very first stop on our quest.
• Watching the sunset over Saginaw Bay with our son, David, after visiting the Methodist Episcopal Church marker in Caseville.
• Our marathon tour of the eastern part of the Michigan Thumb with our daughter, Sarah.
• The Stoney Creek and Rochester tour with both David and Sarah joining us.
• Exploring Mill Race Park with Kathy after visiting the Commerce Roller Mill historical marker.

Our next 50 promises to be more exciting and adventurous as we start to expand further out from our home base, and we have a big trip to the Petoskey and Traverse City regions where we visited 30 or so wineries.  If you’re into wine more that history, then the next 50 will be more up your alley.  But, history buffs, do not lament, because there are still plenty of historical markers to whet your whistle.

#michiganwinesandsigns #michigan #history #michiganhistory #wine #michiganwine #winetasting #lovemiwine #historyisbetterwithwine

The Church Built for Summer Vacationers

Orchard Lake Chapel

Date Visited:  August 24, 2019

Stop:  #50

 Most of our Michigan Wines and Signs trips are planned, and on this particular day, the Commerce Burying Ground was supposed to be our last stop.  We had been at a birthday party earlier in the day, and when I planned our historical marker visits for afterwards, I thought there would only be time to hit four markers, so that became the plan.  Having executed the plan, we pulled out of the cemetery and headed east on Commerce Road with the intentions of heading home, or, at least to a restaurant for dinner.  Since we had eaten a fairly large meal at the party, and since it was not as late in the day as I expected it would be, neither Kathy nor I were particularly hungry, but we began going through our typical process of figuring out what we wanted to do for dinner. 

What do you want to do for dinner?  I don’t know, what do you feel like?  I don’t know.  Not pizza.  Yeh, not pizza.  Burgers?  Nah, I don’t feel like a burger.  How about Pasquale’s?  Mmmm, I love Pasquale’s, but it’s kinda out of the way.  Let’s do something closer to home.

And, so it went.  Then, all of a sudden, Kathy says “Hey, there’s a sign!”  Fortunately, I had time to slow down and make a last second turn into a parking lot (with no squealing of the tires, I might add), and drove back across the expanse of blacktop to the building.  The building in question was a church – a huge church, which would explain the huge expanse of blacktop that served as its parking lot.  The church was also on a lake, which we later found out was Orchard Lake.  What a beautiful setting for a church.  We did not know what church, though, so fortunately the large neon sign along Commerce Road told us it was the Orchard Lake Community Church, Presbyterian.  This would end up being our 50^th stop on our quest to visit every Michigan Historical Marker and every Michigan Winery and Tasting Room.

Just to provide some insight regarding the location of the marker, we had driven about 4.7 miles east of the Commerce Burying Ground.  The historical marker is located on the right side of Commerce Road when traveling east.  It is very close to the road, which was probably the biggest reason Kathy saw it as we were driving by.  The marker itself is in rough condition.  It is listing severely towards the church, and a lot of the paint for the border and some of the words has flaked off.  But it was exciting that we got to check off another sign to our growing list of historical markers.

The historical marker really does not provide a lot of information about the church.  It mentions that early settlers to the area were devout Christians and that beginning in 1825, they were served by itinerant preachers.  Backed by Colin and Caroline Campbell, the chapel was built on land donated by Peter Dow.  The area had become a popular place to gather during the summer months, and this influx of visitors created a need for a place to worship.  The chapel was dedicated on July 18, 1874, with many worshipers arriving on steamboat.  The church took on its current name in 1943.

As is the case with many of the places we visit, I try to find additional historical information about the topic, mostly with no success.  With so little information provided by the historical marker, I turned to the internet once again to see if I could find out more, and was pleasantly surprised when I found a historical book about the church.  Now, this book is a bit dated.  It was published in 1959 by the church with information compiled by J. A. Van Coevering.  The reading is interesting, but being 60 years old, uses language that, by today’s standards, would be considered offensive.  In fact, there is a note that appears on the second page that warns that some words used are not politically correct by today’s standards.  The book is only 32 pages long, and it is a very easy read.  It does provide some interesting information about the church through the years leading up to 1959, as well as some historical photographs that help bring the words to life.  Just as interesting is the narrative about a couple of the more prominent people associated with the church – Peter Dow, and the Church matriarch, Caroline Campbell.  In fact, a few pages of the book are dedicated to the actual writing of Caroline as she shares her perspective on the history of the chapel.  Instead of paraphrasing the document, I will just provide a link to it below:

https://57507c1d-26d8-44a3-ba97-ebae4f20b026.filesusr.com/ugd/6e83d3_bb9fa0f1c69c4baa8930e50c371f3360.pdf

We actually spent a significant amount of time at the church.  The grounds are beautiful, with many majestic oak trees, hickory trees, and pine trees providing protection from the blazing hot sun.  There is an abundance of flowers which kept Kathy busy taking pictures, and the landscaping is beautifully done.  Put that against the lake as a backdrop, we were presented with many wonderful photo ops.  The current church is probably triple the size of the original chapel, but it was the chapel itself that was the most interesting.  It looks very much the same today as it did when it was first built.  There are many interesting architectural features about the church that make it very photogenic.  With our fair share of pictures in hand, we returned to the car, but, having learned a lesson, decided to check our Michigan Wines and Signs map to see if we would pass any other historical markers on the way home.  And, of course, there was one more, not too far from where we were at that moment.

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