County note shelf
Alger County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Alger County. This shelf has 4 practical notes and 10 local stories.
14 notes
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- OutdoorsGrand Island, the wild island off MunisingHalf a mile off Munising lies Grand Island -- about 13,500 acres of Lake Superior woodland with no cars, reachable by ferry, once owned by an iron company and now a national recreation area.
- OutdoorsGrand Marais and the Grand Sable DunesGrand Marais is the eastern doorway to Pictured Rocks, with the Grand Sable Dunes, Sable Falls, the Log Slide, and Au Sable Light spread along H-58.
- History and cultureHow Alger County got its nameAlger County was carved from Schoolcraft County in 1885 and named for Russell A. Alger -- a lumber baron, Civil War cavalry general, and the sitting governor of Michigan at the time.
- Money and taxesIs there a city income tax in Munising?Munising charges no city income tax -- and no community in the entire Upper Peninsula does. The nearest one is Grayling, well over a hundred miles south.
- History and cultureMunising's furnace, tannery, and paper millMunising takes its name from the Ojibwe word for 'at the island,' and was born twice -- once around an 1867 iron furnace, and again when the railroad arrived in 1895. Its paper mill has run for more than a century.
- OutdoorsPictured Rocks, the first national lakeshoreJust east of Munising, Lake Superior meets the multicolored sandstone cliffs of Pictured Rocks -- the first national lakeshore in the United States, best seen from the water.
- OutdoorsAmerica's First National Lakeshore Is in the U.P. — and the Cliffs Are Painted by MineralsAmerica's first national lakeshore is in the U.P., where Lake Superior cliffs rise 200 feet and minerals paint them in streaks of color.
- History and cultureGrand Island: A Tycoon's Private Kingdom on Lake SuperiorFor ninety years, 13,500 acres off Munising were one iron magnate's private kingdom; today it's a wild National Recreation Area.
- OutdoorsLaughing Whitefish Falls: choose your view before the stairsA half-mile natural-surface trail reaches three waterfall platforms. The upper view has no stairs; the middle and lower views sit 20 and 137 steps down.
- OutdoorsMunising waterfalls: what is open and how far you walkMunising is a useful base for several very different waterfall trips. Munising Falls is closed; Wagner is the short stop, Miners a 1.2-mile walk, and Chapel a longer rough-road outing.
- OutdoorsSable Falls: 168 steps to the Lake Superior shoreOne mile west of Grand Marais, a short trail reaches a 75-foot sandstone cascade. The best view and beach lie below 168 stairs, so save some energy for the climb back.
- Home and propertyWhat to know about well and septic in Alger CountyOutside Munising, most of Alger County is on private well and septic. Michigan has no statewide septic code, and the local health department doesn't require an inspection when a property is sold -- so buyers should get their own.
- Money and taxesBuying in a township? Watch for special assessments on top of your taxesMichigan township buyers should check for special assessments that can add separate road, sewer, water, lighting, sidewalk, or drain charges.
- Money and taxesIn Michigan, you get two property-tax bills a year — not oneMost Michigan property owners get separate summer and winter tax bills, with local rules deciding what lands on each bill.