Pequaming, the lumber town Henry Ford bought

A few miles north of L’Anse, Pequaming sits on a narrow point reaching into Keweenaw Bay. Northern Michigan University’s Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center traces the older name, Pequaquawaming, to “point village” or “cape point” and describes the peninsula as bear-shaped in local Chippewa tradition. The place had a long Indigenous history before Charles and Edward Hebard and H.C. Thurber established a sawmill village there in 1878.

In 1923, Henry Ford bought the lumbering town and 40,000 surrounding acres. The Henry Ford museum says the hardwood could be processed at Pequaming’s sawmill for use in Ford vehicles. The purchase also included a large bungalow on the bay. It was available to Henry and Clara Ford as a summer home, but the museum’s collection record adds a useful correction to the usual story: Henry visited the bungalow but never stayed overnight.

Pequaming thinned out after the mill years. The NMU history says only about three families remained by 1950 and Ford sold the property in 1952. It is not an empty museum today: homes, rentals, and commercial fishing operations remain, along with the powerhouse and Ford water tank. If you go looking for the old town, stay on public routes and respect signs and private property.