Imogen Herbert Historical Museum
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| In addition the adjacent water tower, the museum includes this old tin-sided house, built for the mother-in-law of the local pharmacist, furnished as it would have looked in the early 20th century. The log house was once part of a late 19th-century socialistic agricultural colony. |
The Schoolcraft County Historical Society occupies three interesting buildings in and around the water tower. In the elegant water tower interior, now restored, are changing exhibits and photos, ads, and scrapbooks of local businesses, streetscapes, and scenes. related to local businesses. Crisp, clear photos show the Chicago Lumber Company and its subsidiary businesses which helped Manistique survive after the pines were cutover. Advertising memorabilia show, among other things, that Winkelman's, the onetime Detroit women's wear store, got its start in Manistique.
The HIAWATHA COLONY LOG HOUSE in back houses also has special exhibits about that utopian scheme. It was moved from the Hiawatha Colony, a communal agricultural colony founded in the 1890s by a socialist. The colony developed around a core of disgruntled Civil War veterans who had joined Coxey's Army and marched on Washington to claim benefits. The colonists were interrelated. Some 225 of them lived 13 miles north of town in Hiawatha Township until the experiment broke up in 1896. Most of the buildings were large, shared spaces. This small cabin belonged to two brothers who refused to move into group quarters. Other colonists burned the original cabin, but they were ordered by the government to rebuild it.
M-94/Deer St., just west of the water tower and bridge. Contact phone: (906) 341-5045. Open Wed-Sat 1-4 from last Sat in June thru Sat. of Labor Day weekend. Donations appreciated. Handicap accessible: cabin. House museum: one step in each of 3 places. No access to 2nd floor. 6 steps into water tower.
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POINTS OF INTEREST
Mackinaw Trail Tasting Room/Winery. The wines at this little Trader's Point winery has quickly gained widespread praise ... more
Downtown Manistique. Downtown is friendly, functional, and architecturally quite simple, despite Manistique's lumber town heritage. There's a most unusual Latin American import shop, a used paperback bookstore, and a large antique shop with vintage clothing ... more
Manistique Boardwalk & East Breakwater Light. A scenic, hardened two-mile walkway with picnic areas goes along the Lake Michigan shore. The beach alternates between sandy and rocky, in places backed by birches and cedars ... more
Water Tower and "Siphon Bridge". Manistique's 200-foot 1920s neoclassical brick water tower is the town's defining landmark. It's next to the river and what was the famous "siphon bridge," below water level. ... more
Imogen Herbert Historical Museum. Lots of curious stuff in this little museum — a quilt made of neckties, a lampshade — and good photos of the many facets of Chicago Lumber, the company that once owned much of the town. In back there's a cabin once part of an 1890s agricultural commune. ... more
Traders' Point. Two pleasant shops: a café/bookstore and antiques. The outdoor eating area looks across the Manistique River to the marina. ... more
Rogers Park. This is the best Lake Michigan beach in the area-pure sand, free of the limestone cobbles along much of the shoreline. Also a picnic area ... more
Kewadin Casino, Manistique. One of the smaller U.P. Indian-run casinos, the Kewadin here has 2 blackjack tables and one roulette table, a poker room, and 80 slots. Free drinks while gaming ... more
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