County note shelf
Barry County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Barry County. This shelf has 4 practical notes and 14 local stories.
18 notes
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- Outdoors Barry State Game Area: thousands of public acres west of Hastings A sprawling state game area of forest, marsh, and small lakes west of Hastings, open to public hunting and fishing, with a DNR shooting range on M-179 near Yankee Springs.
- History and culture Middleville: the river town that ran on flour and featherbone Calvin Hill founded Middleville on the Thornapple River in 1834; by 1900 the village was turning out White Lily flour and Warren Featherbone for corsets and buggy whips.
- Outdoors Pierce Cedar Creek Institute: 850 acres a retired couple set aside Bill and Jessie Pierce founded an 850-acre nature preserve and biological field station south of Hastings in 1988; its ten miles of trails are free and open dawn to dusk year-round.
- Outdoors The Paul Henry–Thornapple Trail: a railroad that took 170 years to finish The Paul Henry–Thornapple rail trail follows the old Grand River Valley Railroad grade through Middleville and Irving, with a stretch carrying the North Country National Scenic Trail.
- History and culture Bowens Mills: a buckwheat mill that ran for generations Edwin Bowen built a three-story grist mill near Gun Lake in 1864; it ground buckwheat flour into the 20th century, and the little hamlet around it is now a Michigan historic park with a covered bridge.
- History and culture Nashville, Michigan, went 33 years without a name Settled in 1836 but left nameless until 1869, this Barry County village took the name of a railroad surveyor — Gerardus Nash — when the Grand River Valley line came through.
- History and culture Freeport once had an opera house and a handle factory Platted by the Roush family in 1874 along an old Battle Creek trail, this small Barry County village grew to 500 people, an opera house, and a handle factory before the railroad even arrived in 1889.
- History and culture Hastings put a concert stage on the river that built the town Thornapple Plaza, an outdoor music venue on the Thornapple River in downtown Hastings, opened in 2016 and anchors a summer of free concerts and the Thornapple Arts Council Jazz Festival.
- History and culture Woodland was named for the trees it cut down Settled in 1837 by the Galloway brothers in Barry County's heavily timbered northeast corner, Woodland took its name from the dense forest — then grew into a village when the railroad arrived in 1889.
- History and culture Hastings, the county seat Hastings is Barry County's seat, with the Thornapple River, an old downtown, and the 1890s Barry County Courthouse.
- History and culture Historic Charlton Park Historic Charlton Park is a Barry County park and museum with a re-created historic village on Thornapple Lake.
- History and culture The Gilmore Car Museum The Gilmore Car Museum at Hickory Corners is a 90-acre campus of historic cars, red barns, vintage buildings, and partner auto museums.
- History and culture Yankee Springs and Gun Lake Yankee Springs Recreation Area and Gun Lake make northwest Barry County one of southern Michigan's strongest outdoors corners.
- Home and property Buying on (or near) a Barry County lake? Barry County lake homes can come with legal lake levels, lake special assessments, lake associations, and lake-specific boating rules.
- Home and property Outside town, you're probably on a well and septic Most Barry County township homes use private wells and septic systems, and the county's former sale-time inspection mandate was repealed in 2018.
- Outdoors Gun Lake and Yankee Springs: Barry County's playground Barry 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.
- Money and taxes Buying in a township? Watch for special assessments on top of your taxes Michigan township buyers should check for special assessments that can add separate road, sewer, water, lighting, sidewalk, or drain charges.
- Money and taxes In Michigan, you get two property-tax bills a year — not one Most Michigan property owners get separate summer and winter tax bills, with local rules deciding what lands on each bill.