County note shelf
Allegan County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Allegan County. This shelf has 6 practical notes and 39 local stories.
45 notes
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- Rules and licensesSaugatuck capped its short-term rentals at one in five homesIn 2024 Saugatuck capped vacation rentals at 20% of the housing in its R1 residential zones; existing rentals are grandfathered until the property changes hands, and the cap drew a lawsuit.
- History and cultureSingapore, the lumber boomtown the dunes swallowedA lumber and shipbuilding town once stood at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River near Saugatuck; after the woods were cut for the 1871 fires, blowing sand buried it within a few years.
- History and cultureA three-day blizzard made Glenn the Pancake TownA 1937 blizzard stranded about 200 travelers in Glenn, where residents sheltered them and served pancakes until U.S. 31 reopened.
- History and cultureThe Felt Mansion, built by the man who invented the adding machineCalculator millionaire Dorr Felt finished his brick summer mansion in Laketown Township in 1928; his wife died six weeks later, he died soon after, and the estate later served as a seminary and a prison.
- OutdoorsCrane's of Fennville: an apple orchard that started selling pie to surviveCrane's Pie Pantry in Fennville grew out of a Depression-survival idea — sell the pie, not just the apples — on an orchard the Crane family has farmed since 1917.
- History and cultureDorr, Michigan: named for a man who lost a rebellionThe Allegan County town of Dorr is named for Thomas Wilson Dorr, who led an armed 1842 uprising in Rhode Island to win the vote for ordinary men — and was jailed for it.
- History and cultureHow Hopkins got its name out of a hatLocal history says nine settlers put possible township names into a hat, and the winning slip honored Oziel Hopkins Round, a child who had died young.
- OutdoorsLake Allegan: a 1,600-acre lake that's really a dam pondThe Calkins Bridge Dam, finished in 1936, backs the Kalamazoo River into the 1,600-acre Lake Allegan, generating hydroelectric power while holding the river's water level steady upstream.
- History and cultureOverisel, Michigan: a Dutch province dropped into Allegan CountyTwelve Dutch families settled Overisel in 1848 and named it for the province of Overijssel back home; the tight farming community still centers on two Reformed churches.
- History and cultureOx-Bow: the art colony on a bend of the Kalamazoo RiverSince 1910, painters from the Art Institute of Chicago have spent summers at Ox-Bow, a rustic art school tucked on the dunes and lagoon behind Saugatuck.
- History and culturePlainwell Ice Cream: 40,000 gallons a year from one corner shopOn the corner of Bridge and Broad in Plainwell, three generations of the Gaylord family have churned out small-batch ice cream since 1978 — now 53 flavors and 40,000 gallons a year.
- History and cultureThe Edwardian ocean liner that spent 45 years docked in DouglasThe SS Keewatin, a 1907 Great Lakes steamship, sat as a floating museum on the Kalamazoo River at Douglas from 1967 until it was towed home to Canada in 2012.
- Cars and drivingThe quarter-mile dragstrip in Martin that's been roaring since 1962US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin opened in 1962 as Martin Dragway, got a $14 million rebuild in 2002, and still runs cars down a quarter mile of straight asphalt.
- OutdoorsThe swing bridge at New Richmond that used to turn for boatsAn 1879 iron swing bridge over the Kalamazoo River at New Richmond once pivoted open for riverboats; restored in 2004, it now carries walkers as the centerpiece of a county park.
- History and cultureThe Wayland library a widow paid for with her willWayland's stone library on Main Street was built in 1900 from a $2,000 bequest left by Julia Henika, who died wanting her town to have a place to read.
- History and cultureTrowbridge Dam sent power 24 miles to KalamazooIn 1899, a 22,000-volt line carried power 24 miles from Trowbridge Dam to Kalamazoo. Today, the dam sits inside an active PCB cleanup.
- History and cultureHudsonville Ice Cream started as a farmers' co-op for milkHudsonville Ice Cream grew out of an 1895 dairy cooperative, began scooping in 1926, and now runs its big plant in Holland after stops in Burnips.
- History and cultureThe red tower at the end of the South Haven pierSouth Haven's red pierhead lighthouse has marked the Black River since 1872, and its original keeper's catwalk is one of only four still standing in Michigan.
- OutdoorsFennville throws a festival for the geese — and means itFennville's Goose Festival, held since the 1980s, celebrates the thousands of Canada geese that winter at the nearby Fennville Farm Unit, an old peppermint farm the state bought in 1949.
- History and cultureHamilton was Rabbit River firstThe Heath Township village of Hamilton was first called Rabbit River, after the pine-country stream whose sawmills built the place; the township itself is named for an early figure, James M. Heath.
- History and cultureWhy downtown Wayland looks the way it doesWayland's Main and Superior street commercial core, much of it rebuilt after an 1883 fire, joined the National Register of Historic Places in 2021 as a 35-building downtown district.
- History and cultureAbronia disappeared, but the road still bends around itWatson Township's Abronia grew around a post office and railroad stop, then vanished after mail, passenger service, and the tracks moved on.
- History and cultureGraafschap: a village named with the Dutch word for 'county'Dutch settlers from the Bentheim region founded Graafschap south of Holland in 1847 and named it with their word for 'county'; the community still centers on its Christian Reformed church.
- History and cultureMonterey Township is named for a battle in MexicoAllegan County residents named Monterey Township for an 1846 U.S. victory at Monterrey during the Mexican-American War.
- OutdoorsScout projects added fitness stations and disc golf to Salem Township ParkSalem Township Park combines courts, fields, a three-quarter-mile nature trail, fitness stations, and disc golf built through grants, donations, and local Scout projects.
- History and culturePlainwell, the Island City — where city hall is an old paper millDowntown Plainwell sits on an actual island between the Kalamazoo River and an 1856 millrace, and its city hall occupies the beautifully reborn paper mill.
- History and cultureSaugatuck and Douglas: Michigan's Art CoastSaugatuck and Douglas are known as Michigan's Art Coast, with Ox-Bow, galleries, LGBTQ+-welcoming resort history, and the buried town of Singapore.
- History and cultureThe Gun Lake Tribe and Gun Lake CasinoThe Gun Lake Tribe is based in Wayland Township, and Gun Lake Casino has become a major Allegan County employer and regional destination.
- Outdoors'Big Red': Holland's Beloved (and Not-Always-Red) IconHolland's beloved Dutch-gabled icon, guarding a hand-dug channel into Lake Michigan — and famous for a coat of red it didn't wear until 1956.
- History and cultureA working Dutch windmill crossed the Atlantic to MichiganHolland calls De Zwaan America's only authentic working Dutch windmill. It was built in 1884 with some older parts and moved to Michigan in 1964.
- History and cultureFive Million Tulips Bloom in One Michigan Town Every MayHolland, Michigan throws the longest-running tulip festival in the U.S. — five million-plus tulips every May, a tradition begun in 1929.
- History and cultureThere's a Whole Michigan Town Buried Under the SandSingapore was a Lake Michigan lumber boomtown near Saugatuck that the dunes swallowed whole after the surrounding forests were cut down.
- OutdoorsYes, there's a ski resort in OtsegoBittersweet Resort in Otsego Township has been southwest Michigan's ski hill since 1982, with six chairlifts and lights for night skiing.
- History and cultureThe Melon Heads of SaugatuckThe Melon Heads legend warns of deformed children loose in the woods near Saugatuck's Felt Mansion — but the asylum at its center never existed.
- History and cultureAn 1886 iron bridge, a summer antique market, and an 1852 fairAllegan pairs its 1886 Second Street Bridge with a monthly summer antique market and a county fair whose recorded history begins in 1852.
- OutdoorsOval Beach, a hand-cranked ferry, and the big dunesSaugatuck's outdoor draw includes Oval Beach, the hand-cranked chain ferry, Mount Baldhead, Saugatuck Dunes State Park, and dune rides.
- History and culturePaper towns: how Otsego and Plainwell made America's pagesFor a century the mills of Otsego and Plainwell made paper for the nation; the towns have spent the years since turning that heritage into new riverfronts.
- Home and propertyLiving near the Palisades nuclear plantHomes around Covert and South Haven may sit inside the Palisades Nuclear Plant emergency planning zone while the plant is being brought back into service.
- Home and propertyThe Kalamazoo River cleanup, and the fish advisoryKalamazoo River properties in Allegan County sit along an active PCB/Superfund cleanup corridor with a fish advisory buyers should understand.
- OutdoorsThe Allegan State Game Area and the great goose migrationThe Allegan State Game Area is a huge public-land anchor west of Allegan, known for trails, paddling, hunting, camping, and fall Canada geese.
- OutdoorsGun Lake and Yankee Springs: Barry County's playgroundBarry County centers on 2,600-acre Gun Lake and the 5,000-acre Yankee Springs Recreation Area — West Michigan's favorite lakes-and-trails weekend.
- Home and propertyBuilding near the Lake Michigan shoreline and on the dunesLake Michigan shoreline and dune properties can be affected by Michigan critical-dune and high-risk-erosion-area permits.
- History and cultureBlueberries, peaches, and the lake that makes them possibleSouthwest Michigan's fruit belt grows a huge share of America's blueberries — South Haven calls itself the Blueberry Capital of the World and has thrown a festival since 1963.
- 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.