Town of the Week, March 7, 1998

Take a visit to Marine City, Michigan; just listen in.

Marine City, Michigan

It sounds like a match made in heaven; gingerbread charm meets towering pines on Michigan's eastern shore. Gleaming Victorian charmers of the affable riverfront community dot the hillsides overlooking the St. Clair and Belle Rivers. An hour north of Detroit, and know first as Yankee Point, this has always been a sea-going town.

Linked to Canada by a car and passenger ferry, it was settled by eastern Yankees in the early 1820s, and has had as many names as Barry Sanders has moves. It became Cottrellville, Belle River, Newport, Marine in 1895 and finally Marine City in 1887. One of the town's early legendary river pilots was Captain Samuel Ward, who sailed his 30-ton schooners from Green Bay to New York City. The town's first post office was in his rather large log home.

Shipbuilding is no longer an important part of the economy; in its place is plastic injection molding of auto parts and other parts of the auto trade. Since Great Lakes shipping is such a terrific spectator sport, tourists come to see the big ships and the big river. Marine City's Pride and Heritage Museum re-opens next month for the weekend afternoon season after closing for the winter.

This town of 5,200 celebrates Maritime Days in August, and pays homage to its past each September with the Vintage Festival. Carriage rides and architectural tours mix with an International Croquet Tournament, and storytelling in the Red Brick Schoolhouse. This is the home of the Marine City lighthouse, and of the high school Mariners. It's our Town of the Week, Marine City, Michigan.

. . . the name Michigan comes from an indian word (varying reports have it as "mesikami" or "michigama") which translate as "great lake." . . . Michigan's boundaries include parts of four out of the five great lakes. It has more coastline than any state except Alaska. . . . the World's Largest Saran Wrap bubble is on display at Dow Chemical Company in Midland. . . . Mackinac Bridge, the five-mile-long suspension bridge that connects Michigan's peninsulas across the Straits of Mackinac, is the world's longest suspension bridge. . . . Michigan leads the nation with approximately one million registered pleasure boats. . . . Michigan leads the nation in the production of tart cherries, blueberries, and dry edible beans. . . . famous natives include: Henry Ford (industrialist), Charles A. Lindbergh (aviator), Pontiac (Ottowa chief), and Edgar Guest (journalist/poet). . . . the Great Lakes account for one-fifth of the world's surface freshwater supply.

Michigan Travel Bureau Michigan Travel Companion Northern Michigan Connection State Travel & Tourism site

Motto: "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you" Statehood: January 26, 1837 (26th state) Capitol: Lansing Bird: robin red breast Fish: brook trout Flower: apple blossom Song: "Michigan, My Michigan" Tree: White pine Gem: Isle Royale Greenstone Insect: Dragonfly Stone: Petoskey Stone

Info for "D'ja Know?" and "Fun Facts" compiled from the Michigan-via-INET pages, the Michigan Travel Bureau and Michigan'sSuperstation. Pictures for the collage were culled from Wynne Achatz's Marine City website and the Marine City Area Chamber of Commerce 1996-97 Community Profile and Relocation Guide.

It's a whole 'nother language

You'd need to learn some new words if travelling to Michigan:

Upnorth: referring to the outdoors.

Fudgies: referring to tourists--especially day-trippers.

Vernors: for ginger ale.

Yoopers or U-Piners: slang for Upper Peninsula residents.

Trolls: U.P. slang for lower peninsula residents (a troll is a creature that dwells below a bridge, and lower peninsula residents live south of the Mackinac Bridge, which links the two peninsulas).