County note shelf
Antrim County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Antrim County. This shelf has 3 practical notes and 12 local stories.
15 notes
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- History and cultureMancelona's Bass Festival has lasted seven decadesThe northern Michigan town marked its 70th annual Bass Festival in 2026, with a parade, carnival, car show, market, and a long weekend of community events.
- History and cultureFrom a Bellaire hardware store to a brewery that fills Elk RapidsJoe Short opened Short's Brewing in an old Bellaire hardware store in 2004, then outgrew it and moved the brewing into an Elk Rapids factory making tens of thousands of barrels a year.
- History and cultureHow tiny Ellsworth became a fine-dining destinationWes Westhoven turned a 1972 Ellsworth restaurant into a French-country pioneer with a legendary wine cellar, putting a village of a few hundred people on national gourmet maps.
- History and cultureMancelona's iron town, and the tar lake it left behindFrom 1882 to 1945 the Antrim Iron Company smelted iron with hardwood charcoal south of Mancelona — and dumped its waste in a pond that became a federal Superfund site.
- History and cultureThe Alden depot that six railroad men saved on their days offBuilt in 1907 as the Pere Marquette's finest station north of Grand Rapids, Alden's lakeside depot survived its empty years as a railroaders' vacation clubhouse before becoming a township museum.
- OutdoorsThe river you can only walk to on a boardwalkWhen a developer eyed a marshy stretch of the Chain of Lakes in 1969, neighbors banded together and built the Grass River Natural Area — 1,500 acres of cedar swamp laced with boardwalk.
- OutdoorsThe village named for sitting in the middle of everythingCentral Lake got its plain name from its spot dead-center in Antrim County's Chain of Lakes, perched on Intermediate Lake within a short hop of Torch Lake and a free village campground on the water.
- OutdoorsThirty miles of trail on hills the glaciers leftThree local governments jointly own the 814-acre Glacial Hills near Bellaire, where a glacier-built tangle of ridges holds about 31 miles of mountain-bike, hiking, and ski trail.
- History and cultureBellaire and Shanty CreekBellaire is Antrim County's courthouse village and Chain of Lakes hub, with Shanty Creek nearby as a four-season resort.
- OutdoorsThe Grand Traverse Bay shore and Elk RapidsAntrim County's Grand Traverse Bay shore centers on Elk Rapids, US-31, beaches, harbors, and prime waterfront buying questions.
- OutdoorsTorch Lake and the Chain of LakesTorch Lake and the connected Elk River Chain of Lakes shape boating, swimming, fishing, and shoreline life across Antrim County.
- OutdoorsThe Jordan Valley and Antrim's wooded interiorAntrim County's inland townships offer the Jordan River Valley, Mackinaw State Forest, trails, acreage, and rural privacy.
- Home and propertyWell and septic in Antrim CountyAntrim County township buyers should expect wells and septic systems, with mandatory time-of-transfer checks in a few lake jurisdictions.
- 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.