Alger County Heritage Center
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| Behind the museum on the banks of Munising Bay, this rare American Fur Company log cabin dates from the 1830s. It was built on Grand Island by John Jacob Astor's legendary company. The interior has been meticulously restored. |
For visitors to Munising Falls or Sand Point beach, it's easy to stop at this free local history museum in a former school—a very handsome school, erected with funds from Cleveland-Cliffs Iron and its benevolent ruler, William Gwinn Mather. Of great interest to outsiders is American Fur Company log cabin #3, moved from Grand Island to the museum grounds. The fur company, an early venture of John Jacob Astor, had recently abandoned its Grand Island cabins when pioneering European settler Abraham Williams brought his family to the island in July 1840 and moved into the cabins. Museum volunteer Mary Edgar, fastidious about authenticity, patterned it after the carefully researched cabin at Michigan State University's museum. It's furnished as it might have been in the waning years of the fur trade in the 1830s, with reproduction trade goods (amulets, beads, food supplies, Hudson Bay blankets, calico fabric); pelts, snowshoes, and traps; and, suspended from the rafters, a birchbark canoe.
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| The warm wooden interior of the old Traunik post office has been preserved in the museum here. It is visible from the customer's and clerk's positions. Settled by Slovenians, Traunik is on a country road H-44 25 miles southwest of Munising. |
Another museum gem is the Munising Woodenware collection from the factory that moved here in 1911, after its Kalkaska factory burned. Munising Woodenware became a leading local employer and thrived in the 1920s. It made all sorts of things, from clothespins to tent pegs to pastry makers, rolling pins, meat tenderizers, and bowls, hand painted with flowers, ivy, and such. Original Munising Woodenware decorative items have become highly collectible. For woodenware history and pictures of new woodenware being produced, visit algercounty.com.
Grand Island's resort and game ranch years are represented by furniture from Hotel Williams and a mounted albino deer, part of the ranch's exotic animals collection.
The impressive historical society brings together history-minded summer people and local people who have long memories and an unusual repository of family stories extending back years before European settlement. The museum archives (photos, records, clippings) are a useful genealogical resource, and many photographs document the area since logging days. The large gift shop carries numerous publications about the area, some found nowhere else. Who Were Those People? compiles sketches of various ethnic groups, including Poles in Munising itself, Ojibwa families, Swedish homesteaders, and more. Works by many local artists are also at the shop. 
On Washington St./Sand Point Rd. 1/2 mile north of H-58/Munising Ave. (906) 387-4308. Open year-round Monday through Friday 10 to 5. Also open Saturday from 10 to 2 from May through September. No admission fee; donations appreciated. Handicap accessible: main museum has an elevator to all floors. Log cabin has some steps, narrow doorway.
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POINTS OF INTEREST
Munising Front Range Light. Imposing 1908 58-foot white light tower is part of a system of range lights that guide ships into Munising's harbor of refuge. Behind & up the hill is the shorter but higher white round rear range tower. Boat captains lined up the two lights to steer safely into this harbor of refuge. ... more
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. A major Midwest destination with wonderful waterfalls, vistas, and hikes, the sandstone bluffs here rise up to 300 feet high, shaped by wind, waves, and ice into dramatic columns and caves, and stained red, blue and green by seeping minerals to form colored "pictures" ... more
Scenic drive Munising to Marquette. Miles of public beaches, vistas, and elegant river mouths delight travelers who take M-28 along this stretch. ... more
Spray Falls. Enjoyable 3-mile hike takes you to one of the U.P.'s premier falls ... more
Tannery Falls. One of the U.P.'s most delightful waterfalls is reached by a splendid path along Tannery Creek ... more
Hiawatha National Forest/ Pictured Rocks Visitor Center. This is a recommended first stop for every new visitor---for maps, handouts, scheduled talks and walks on nature and history, and customized, impartial advice from a knowledgeable staff of adults who live here and know the area well. Also a nature bookstore ... more
Pictured Rocks Cruises. This cruise is the way to see the Pictured Rocks, preferably in the late-afternoon light, unless you have your own boat or take a kayak tour, ... more
Glass Bottom Boat Shipwreck Tour. This tour combines perspective about shipwrecks with the chance to peer down through a large boat's viewing wells at three shipwrecks south of Grand Island. ... more
Ice Climbing in Pictured Rocks. A top Midwest spot for ice climbing just east of Munising, where tall sandstone bluffs create dramatic blue columns of ice ... more
Lake Superior. Of all the U.P.'s features, none rival the largest freshwater lake in the world. ... more
Central Munising. A wonderful picnic spot, with grills, bandshell, and farmers' market on Munising Bay; a popular coffeehouse-bookstore, some specialty stores; and a kids' castle playground ... more
Alger County Heritage Center. Here you'll see an authentically furnished 1830s fur trader's cabin from Grand Island, and vintage Munising Woodenware products (clothespins, hand-painted bowls, and lots more), once marketed nationally ... more
Northern Waters Sea Kayaking. An adventurous way to see the cliffs, caves, and shipwrecks by Grand Island and the fabled Pictured Rocks ... more
Grand Island Scenic Overlook. A breathtaking vista out beyond Munising Bay of Grand Island ... more
Munising-area Waterfalls. Avoid crowds and visit four delightful, secluded falls in and near Munising: Horseshoe Falls, a quaint private attraction; the Twin Waterfall Plant Preserve; and Wagner Falls off M-94 ... more
Valley Spur Cross-Country Ski and Mountain Bike Trails. Artfully laid out, meticulously groomed, this 38-mile trail system is a favorite destination of dedicated cross-country skiers from far and wide ... more
McQuisten Recreation Area. The views from boardwalks on this beautiful pond are hidden gems for birders and naturalists, within walking distance of the Super 8 and Comfort Inn motels. There's an elaborate playground, too ... more
Hunt's Map Guide to the Upper Peninsula
• 13 detailed U.P. maps
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