CHATHAM

Region: Pictured Rocks/Munising/Au Train

Chatham, named after the Ontario city, is on M-94 at the east edge of a sizable farming area that extends to Skandia, Traunik, and Trenary. The village of about 200 residents was first developed in 1896 as a lumber camp. The camp was gone by 1899, when the railroad arrived. Now the railroad right-of-way is a major east-west snowmobile route. The State Agricultural Experiment Station (now part of Michigan State University) was established the same year to investigate how best to farm cutover land in this cold inland climate.
The striking, three-story limestone hotel, now home of the Village Traveler restaurant, was built as the Pacific Hotel in 1904. It was one of the few buildings to survive a fire in 1925. Across the street, the Chatham Cooperative IGA (906-439-5151), still cooperatively run and open to the public, sells groceries and hardware. It's open weekdays from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sundays 9 to 5.

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PLACES AROUND CHATHAM TO

Eat Sleep Camp