County note shelf
Benzie County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Benzie County. This shelf has 5 practical notes and 14 local stories.
19 notes
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- History and cultureGwen Frostic's studio: a swamp she refused to give upGwen Frostic built her press-and-studio on 40 wooded acres near Benzonia in 1964, and her Heidelberg presses still print her linocuts of Michigan nature there today.
- OutdoorsHow the Platte River hatchery helped launch Michigan's salmon programThe Platte River State Fish Hatchery near Honor helped launch Michigan's Great Lakes salmon program in 1966 and remains the state's coho egg-take and production hatchery.
- History and cultureThe Pulitzer-winning historian who grew up on Benzonia's hillBruce Catton, the Pulitzer-winning Civil War historian, came of age at Benzonia Academy, whose last surviving building is now the Mills Community House.
- History and cultureFrankfort's Garden Theater, a century of one screenFrankfort's Garden Theater has shown movies on Main Street since 1924; a community group bought and restored its Art Deco interior in 2009 and runs it still.
- History and cultureFrankfort's pier light, the tower that moved by bargeFrankfort's North Breakwater Lighthouse was built in 1912 on the old pier, then floated by barge to the end of the new breakwater in 1932, where it still guides the harbor.
- History and cultureThe Cherry Bowl has shown summer movies since 1953The Cherry Bowl opened along US-31 near Honor in 1953 and still pairs digital double features with original speaker posts and other drive-in details.
- History and cultureWatervale: a ghost lumber town that became a summer resortWatervale, a 1890s lumber village on Lower Herring Lake in Blaine Township, was nearly abandoned before a Chicago doctor bought the whole town in 1917 and ran it as a resort.
- Money and taxesDoes Frankfort have a city income tax?Frankfort, Benzie County's only city, levies no city income tax — and neither does Traverse City, where many Benzie commuters work.
- OutdoorsPoint Betsie: The Most-Photographed Light on the LakeOne of the most photographed lighthouses in the country, tucked in the dunes south of Sleeping Bear — and the last light on Lake Michigan to be tended by hand.
- OutdoorsArcadia Dunes and the southern cornerArcadia Dunes, Watervale, orchards, and quiet farm country define Benzie's southwestern corner.
- History and cultureFrankfort and ElbertaFrankfort and Elberta share Benzie's Lake Michigan harbor, beach-town life, and a railroad car-ferry past.
- History and cultureHonor, Lake Ann, and the Platte River countryHonor, Lake Ann, the Platte River, and inland lake country anchor north-central Benzie County.
- OutdoorsPoint Betsie and the south end of Sleeping BearPoint Betsie, Platte Bay, and the lower Platte River anchor Benzie's wild Lake Michigan shore.
- Home and propertySleeping Bear's Moving Shoreline: Bluff Erosion and Coastal LandslidesThe bluffs at Sleeping Bear Dunes are glacial moraines that erode continuously and can slide suddenly — and Lake Michigan's cyclical water levels mean the risk rises and falls over the decades.
- OutdoorsCrystal LakeCrystal Lake is Benzie County's clear, deep centerpiece, with a 19th-century canal accident behind the sandy shoreline seen today.
- OutdoorsThompsonville and Crystal MountainCrystal Mountain, the Betsie River headwaters, and wooded resort country shape southeast Benzie County.
- Home and propertyWell and septic in Benzie CountyBenzie County has required well and septic evaluations at property transfer since 1992.
- 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.