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.

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

A Tri-fecta of Cemeteries

Commerce Village Burying Ground

Date Visited:  August 24, 2019

Stop:  #49

After the disappointment at our last stop – not finding the historical marker at Byers Homestead – Kathy and I were hoping for better results at our next destination.  Pulling out of the parking lot at Byers Homestead onto Tamworth Street, we turned right onto West Commerce Road and headed east.  We only had to drive 0.36 miles to our next destination – the Commerce Village Burying Ground.  Situated on the north side of Commerce Road, this historic cemetery is actually considered 3 separate cemeteries. There is the Commerce Burying Ground, the Mascord Addition Cemetery adjacent on the east side, and the Curtis Cemetery on the south side of Commerce Road.  The historical marker commemorates only the Commerce Village Burying Ground and is located at the western most entrance to the cemetery and sits next to a small chapel.

The historical marker is a two-sided sign.  Side one of the historical marker is more focused on the history of the cemetery and the historical figures that are spending eternity there.  It begins by stating that this was NOT the first cemetery in Commerce Township – that distinction belongs to the burial ground laid out on the Bela Armstrong farm in 1834.  However, most of the burials at that site were transferred to the Commerce Village Burial Ground when the Baptists platted the cemetery in 1837.  The marker goes on to mention the names of four important historical Commerce pioneers buried on the grounds.  The marker ends its dialogue noting that the cemetery is the final resting place for military veterans dating back to the Civil War, and just about every major American military conflict since.

Side two focuses more on the physical attributes of the cemetery mixed with a little bit of history.  It opens by describing the many different types of headstones and monuments found in the cemetery, and drops a couple of historical names from Commerce commemorated by one of the more distinctive monuments.  It also describes a study that was done in 1990 that determined there are 24 varieties of trees and shrubs in the cemetery.  The back side ends by stating that the cemetery was platted by the Baptists in 1837 and then transferred to the Commerce Township Cemetery Association 84 years later.  The Township took outright ownership of the property in 1950.

As you probably know by reading my previous cemetery blogs, I am fascinated by the people buried there.  If a famous, or infamous, person is buried there, I have to find that gravesite.  It was no different this time around.  While Kathy stayed relatively close to the marker, I set out to find some of the headstones for the people mentioned on the marker.  Huffing and puffing across the grounds, I failed to find a single “famous” person, but I did come across some interesting monuments and headstones.  Because it was getting late into the afternoon, we did not stay too long – otherwise I would have stayed until I found at least ONE famous person.  I need to keep in mind that on days we plan to visit cemeteries, I need to leave plenty of time to explore.

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

The Case of the Missing Sign

Byers Homestead

Date Visited:  August 24, 2019

Stop:  #48

We left Mill Race Park on West Commerce Road and knew exactly where our next destination would be – right across the street.  We could see the Byers Homestead from the parking lot at Mill Race Park.  We anticipated a relaxing time walking around the grounds of the homestead, reading the historical marker situated somewhere on the grounds, taking our requisite photographs, and then sauntering on to our next destination.  However, it was not as relaxing as we thought as we encountered yet another mystery on our Michigan Wines and Signs quest.

Although we could see the Byers Homestead across the street, the main entrance to the site was off of Tamworth Street, about 470 feet east of the historical marker at Mill Race Park.  So, we jumped in the car and drove the short distance and parked.  The actual homestead is a fairly large area and we had no idea where the actual historical marker was located.  As we have done on all of our historical marker visits, we used out Gold Source coordinates, but were not surprised that the sign was not there.  So, we set out to explore the grounds in hopes of locating the marker. 

We walked across Tamworth Street from the parking lot and approached the big red barn, which now serves as a Country Store and Candy Shop, only open on Sundays from noon to 5:00 pm.  We have since learned that the barn was built around 1900 as a small carriage house and horse barn, or as a utility barn.  It is also believed that it served as a blacksmith shop at one time.  It looks like your typical red barn – Dutch Gambrel roof and rustic post and beam construction – but a lot smaller.  This seemed like a logical location for the historical marker, so we searched around the whole barn to no avail.

West of the barn is the farm house, so that seemed like the next logical place for the historical marker.  On the way to the farm house, we passed several out buildings:  Grannie’s pantry, the duck barn, and the dress barn among them.  We have since learned that Frederick Pecks built the farm house in 1849.  He lived there for 60 years until his death in 1908.  His daughter, Grace Germaine, was the next occupant of the farmhouse.  She is the last confirmed resident as well.  It’s a classic early Victorian white farm house structure, and we enjoyed taking pictures of it from every conceivable direction.  But, much to our dismay, there was no historical marker there, either.

We looked for the marker in the park that lies south of the barn and farm house.  We even walked out to the Byers Park sign on Commerce Road in hopes that the historical marker was out there.  The walk offered a scenic look at the farmhouse and grounds from across a pond, but it offered up no historical marker.  At this point, we were stymied, and decided that we were not destined to see that sign on this particular day.

Of course, once I got back home later that evening, the first thing I did was get on the internet and look for any clues that might explain the mystery of the missing sign.  Sure enough, I found a couple of resources that mentioned what happened.  One source stated that the main building on the homestead site had fallen into disrepair and had become a safety concern, as well as having dangerous mold growing inside the building.  So, the state of Michigan removed the sign.  Another site simply mentioned that the sign was returned to the Department of History, with no additional explanation.  And a third source came from an interview with a Co-Chair of “Friends of Byers”, Cheryl Quinn, for from The Spinal Column, a news weekly for western Oakland County.  In the article, Cheryl states that “there used to be a residence where June (Byers) lived but it had no running water. The Township had it condemned and taken down and when that happened the state came in and took back the marker.”

But, if we had found the sign, it would have told us about the early history of the area.  The site on which the Byers Homestead resides is said to be the location where the first white pioneers settled in this region.  Abraham Walrod, a German immigrant from New York, built a log cabin here and eventually the Village of Commerce sprung up.  The current farm house replaced the log cabin in 1849.  Many of the settlers who came to the area traveled via the Erie Canal, which had opened in 1825.  They named their village Commerce in hopes of becoming a major business center.  Over time, two generations of Byers lived at this homestead.  June Byers eventually assumed ownership of the property, and in 1998 sold it to Commerce Township.  The Friends of Byers Group, established in 1992, handles the maintenance of the grounds and conducts fundraisers to keep preservation activities moving forward.  One of their objectives is to have the Historical Marker returned to the site.

Since we never actually saw the historical marker, we cannot officially cross this site off our quest list.  It will not be the last marker we will encounter that is no longer where it is supposed to be, but more on that in future blogs.  In any event, we did enjoy our visit to the Homestead, and we were very impressed with the hard work that the Friends of Byers Group and other volunteers have done to keep the site looking great and preserving this very important historical site.

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

Adventure and Mystery at Mill Race Park

Commerce Roller Mill

Date Visited:  August 24, 2019

Stop:  #47

We did not have to travel far to reach our next destination as we continued our Michigan Wines and Signs tour through Commerce Township.  Having pulled out of the parking lot at Commerce United Methodist Church, we headed south on North Commerce Road until we reached West Commerce Road.  We turned left and headed east for about 0.3 miles, and on the north side of the road was the Mill Race Park, the location of our next historical marker.  Mill Race Park is a State Registered Historical Site, formerly occupied by the Commerce Roller Mill, the topic of the historical marker.  We pulled into the gravel parking lot and found the historical marker at the far west end of the park, just a few feet off the parking lot.  We had to battle the bright, setting sun in order to get a nice picture of the sign, but once that was accomplished, it was time to explore.

Today, this area is used primarily as a passive open space area and interpretive site, with a picnic table and an internal trail network with two bridges crossing the Huron River.  We started down the main path and headed towards the first bridge spanning the river.  As we walked on the path, we could see large stone structures to our left and to our right.  Of course, curiosity got the best of me so I headed off towards the structure off to our right.  I followed a path that took me along the river for a short distance, climbing over twisted tree roots and stones, and through a very muddy low spot until I reached the structure.  This was the original foundation for the Commerce Roller mill.  The area is very overgrown with vegetation, and the foundation walls have become victims of graffiti.  You can see the dried-up man-made ditch that served as the water source for the mill and there are other stone and concrete structures that extend out into the Huron River itself.  Having satisfied my curiosity and taken my fair share of pictures, I headed back towards the bridge to check out the structures that were to the left of the main path.

These structures seem to be made of concrete, but I could not figure out what purpose they served.  They are too far removed from the mill foundation to have been a part of that structure, so I can only assume they were part of another building.  Even researching the area after I got home that evening failed to unveil the identity of these structures.  In any event, I love a good mystery so maybe someone who knows what they are will read this and clue me in.

Kathy busied herself taking lots of pictures since the area was very beautiful and offered many scenic images.  She took pictures of me on the bridge, and then I reciprocated by taking pictures of her on the bridge, and then of course, we had to take the requisite selfies of the both of us on the bridge.  We did not venture down the path beyond the bridge, so that might be an adventure for another day.  Little did we know at the time that this area had quite an extensive history, which of course, centered around the mill itself.

My research found two very informative sources that provided a good history of this area.  Between that, and what was written on the historical marker, it was a rather fascinating story.  The mill was built in 1837, three years after the formation of Commerce Township, on property that was part of the original platted village in 1825.  Joseph and Asa Farr, along with Amasa Andrews, were the builders of the grist mill, and it served the community for over 90 years.  There are three basic types of mills, and the Commerce Roller Mill was known as an “undershot” type – the water wheel carried the water from the Huron River beneath the mill.  The other types are the overshot (the water is carried to the top of the water wheel) and the breastshot (the water hit the wheel at the level of the wheel’s axis).

Many owners took possession of the mill over the course of those 90 years including Seymour, Crossman, and Hoover.  In the 1890s, Milton Parshall purchased the mill – he being the patriarch of one of the most famous milling families in Michigan.  In 1918, the mill was operated by Isaac Lutz and his son, George.

The Lutz’s continued operation of the mill into the mid 1920’s, but new technologies and mechanized mass production processes began to cut into the mill’s ability to compete, thus rendering it obsolete.  The mill was providing whole wheat and white flour, and was also shucking corn, and it had a customer base that extended as far as Orchard Lake and Pontiac.  But it became more difficult to compete with more modern and mechanized mills, so the Lutz’s (with Isaac’s health failing, and with George wanting to explore new career opportunities) closed the mill in 1927.

For 12 years the mill lay in a state of ruin and disrepair until it fell victim to fire in the early morning of September 6, 1939.  At the time, the three-story structure was owned by the Leroy Pelletier estate and valued at between $10,000.00 and $15,000.00. The building, which had replaced the original grist mill in 1843, was a total loss.

Throughout the 1940s and ‘50s the site of the mill and its ruins reverted to a more natural state.  Overgrown with shrubbery and trees, the area developed into an unofficial nature trail that local residents enjoyed.  In 1980, Commerce Township purchased the mill property from the Boron Oil Company and is currently preserving it as a passive recreational park for Township residents. In 1983, the Michigan Youth Corps built two log bridges across the river to provide better access through the park.  On April 5, 1984, the Michigan Historical Commission designated the site as historic and, on September 22, 1984, with the erection of a two-posted historic marker, the State of Michigan formally dedicated the ruins of the Commerce Roller Mill.

Kathy and I had an enjoyable time exploring and taking in the beauty of the park.  We could see our next destination across the street from us, so it was time to move on to our next adventure – one that turned out to be more adventurous than we originally thought!

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

The Oldest Methodist Church Building in Oakland County

Commerce United Methodist Congregation

Date Visited:  August 24, 2019

Stop:  #46

It had been 21 days since our last Wines and Signs Adventure.  It was hard to believe that 3 weeks had passed so quickly, but we had two very busy weekends up in Caseville enjoying the Cheeseburger in Caseville Festival, so this was our first weekend home in over a month.  And the reason we were home was to go to a birthday party for the first grandchild of one of our closest friends.  So many memories flooded back as the day approached given that we have known the mother (our friends’ daughter) since the day she was born.  The party was being hosted by her in-laws, who lived in Commerce Township, so seeing as we very rarely have the opportunity to visit that part of town, I thought it would be a great opportunity to visit some historical markers and wineries in the area.  So, the night before the party, I mapped out the possibilities, and was disappointed to learn that, although historical markers were abundant in the area, there were no wineries around.  Fortunately, Kathy was still willing to visit a few markers, so I mapped out the ones that were closest to where the party was located.

The party was in the early afternoon, and we had a very nice time there.  The food was great (lots of finger foods, Jet’s pizza, and antipasto), and we not only got to hang with our good friends, but we also met so many nice people.  The party began to break up after the gifts were opened, and looking at my watch, noted that it was about 4:30.  There would be plenty of sunshine left to visit several historical markers, so saying our “good-byes,” we headed out to our first destination, the Commerce United Methodist Congregation historical marker located at the Commerce United Methodist Church.

We drove north and west to the site that our gold source coordinates indicated, and as has been the case several times already, we could not find the church, let alone the historical marker.  We drove up and down the road a couple of times, thinking that the sign may be located in an area where there is no actual church anymore.  But all we saw were private residences.  We drove down a residential street thinking maybe we would see something beyond somebody’s backyard, but we saw nothing.  We drove into the Detroit Medical Center Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital campus, hoping that the hospital may have replaced the church but still commemorated it with an historical marker, but again, we could not locate it.  So, we turned to modern technology to give us some help – our cell phones.  Of course, we could not get a good connection, so accessing our map apps and Google became a challenge.  Finally, we got a signal strong enough to find out that the actual location of the marker was over 0.6 miles away on a totally different road than the one we were on.  We finally arrived at the marker a few minutes before 5:00 pm, located on the west side of North Commerce Road, about 0.3 miles north of Commerce Road. 

The church is hard to miss – it is massive.  Its most prominent feature is its towering steeple, which is a replica of the original one.  In fact, this is not even the original location of the church – the original location was at the northwest corner of Commercial and Ponderosa Streets, about 0.4 miles southeast of its current location.  This modest, Greek Revival frame church was constructed in 1842.  The historical marker states that logs for the church, which included oak for the frame, were hauled over 40 miles to Lapeer to be sawed.  The land for the church had been purchased in 1841 for $75, and the total cost for the church was $1,200.

The original structure was moved to its current location in 1957.  At that time, it was enlarged.  The old church became the main chapel for the new location, and is recognized as the oldest Methodist church building in Oakland County and one of the oldest in the state of Michigan.  The church has gone through extensive renovations to get to its current appearance. 

The second side of the historical marker provides the history around Methodism in the Commerce area.  A Methodist Episcopal class, which later became a church society, was organized in Commerce in 1838.  For many years, it was part of the Farmington Circuit and the Reverend Daniel C. Jacokes was the church's first circuit minister.  Religious meetings were held in a schoolhouse until the society erected its first church in 1842.  Commerce, with its seventy-one members, became the head of the circuit in 1854.  The congregation organized a Sunday School in 1855 and an Epworth League (a Methodist young adult association for people aged 18 to 35) in 1891.  The Ladies Aid Society, organized in 1885, hosted maple sugar and lawn socials to supplement its dues of five cents a month.  By 1915, the local Presbyterian and Baptist congregations had disbanded, leaving the Methodist society as the sole church in Commerce.  Today, the church holds two services each Sunday (9 am for a Traditional style worship with songs from the UMC Hymnal and traditional organ music, and at 11 am for a Contemporary worship featuring a Praise Band).  The church is available to rent for weddings or as a service venue with a maximum seating capacity of 85 people.

We spent less than 10 minutes here, finding it hard to get good quality pictures looking into a blinding late afternoon sun.  Both Kathy and I had to position ourselves with the sun hidden by the steeple or by the tall pine trees growing in front in order to get any pictures at all.  So, unfortunately, our pics do not do justice to the beauty of this building.

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

A Long Journey's End

Methodist Episcopal Church

Date Visited:  August 3, 2019

Stop:  #45

Whew!  What a day!  It was approaching 6:00 pm and we had one last stop on a journey that started at 10:00 this morning.  We did not have far to go – 1200 feet due north on Main Street (M-53) from the Marlette Train Depot.  Just like the previous two historical signs we visited in Marlette, we had driven past this particular sign hundreds of times as well, but never really knew it was there.  Why?  Well, when driving north on M-53, the church building obscures clean line-of-sight to the sign, and driving south, the sign is obscured by a big, overgrown shrub.  The historical marker I am referencing is associated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, located on the southeast corner of Kilgour Street and Main Street. 

The church is easily identifiable as it is a beautiful red brick building built in a Geo-Gothic style.  However, this is NOT the original church.  There is literally no history that can be found on the building itself other than what is written on the historical marker.  The sign explains that Methodism began in the Marlette area in 1851 when a sermon was first delivered to the Methodist Society that year.  In 1858, the Methodist Episcopalians finally organized as a church.  Their first minister was Reverend D. W. Hammond, and he did not arrive in Marlette until 1873.  Reverend Hammond is also known for starting the Marlette Index newspaper in 1878 (for you history buffs, there are 4 digital copies of this newspaper covering 4 weeks in 1880 at the Marlette Library).

The church itself was built in 1871.  In 1901, as seems to be the case with many churches we have visited, it became victim to a fire.  Joseph Mills, an architect from Detroit who had a history of designing buildings in the area, including the Marlette High School and the Sanilac County Courthouse, developed the design for the new church, which was built on land purchased by the Ladies Aid Society.  The new church was dedicated on December 14, 1902.  This church also fell victim to fire – TWICE; first, in 1937, and then again in 1979.  However, the church’s exterior survived each fire so the renovations were primarily confined to the interior.  Today, the church continues to hold services and serves as a historical reminder of the early religions and their respective churches that sprung up in this area of the Thumb.

So, this concluded our tour of the Eastern Thumb of Michigan.  A trip that started at 10:00 am lasted about 9 ½ hours and traversed 164.7 miles of Michigan lakeshore and farmland.  Along the way, we visited 15 historical markers, 2 wineries, and one scenic turnout – not too far off from our original plan to hit 17 historical markers and 5 wineries.  Overall, it was a near perfect day, and so much fun spending it with Kathy and Sarah.  I look forward to having more days just like this one – but maybe with a few more wineries mixed in!!!

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