County note shelf
Berrien County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Berrien County. This shelf has 8 practical notes and 32 local stories.
40 notes
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- History and culture Bear Cave: a hiding place on the Underground Railroad Near Buchanan, a rare tufa-rock cave above the St. Joseph River sheltered freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad — and a robber's loot hidden there in 1875 inspired the 1903 film The Great Train Robbery.
- History and culture Before Bridgman was a beach town, it was a sawmill that kept burning down Bridgman began in 1856 as Charlotteville, a lumber town whose sawmill burned three times; the lumber is long gone, but the dunes that drew Chicagoans in the 1920s became Weko Beach.
- History and culture Blossomtime started with a sermon about fruit trees The Blossomtime Festival began in 1906 when a Benton Harbor minister told his congregation to go look at the orchards in bloom; its Grand Floral Parade has crossed between Benton Harbor and St. Joseph since 1924.
- History and culture Deer Forest: the petting zoo that 3.5 million people remember From 1949 to 2014, generations of southwest Michigan kids fed deer and llamas at Coloma's Deer Forest and rode the train through Storybook Lane; the North Berrien museum keeps its relics.
- History and culture Grand Beach: a Jazz Age resort that turned into its own village Grand Beach, a tiny village in New Buffalo Township on the Lake Michigan dunes, grew out of a 1920s lakeside resort with a 175-room hotel and a 200-foot beach ski jump before residents incorporated it.
- Outdoors Jean Klock Park: a beach given in a child's name In 1917 a Benton Harbor newspaper publisher and his wife gave the city 90 acres of Lake Michigan dunes and beach in memory of their daughter, who died in infancy — deeded to the public forever.
- History and culture Michigan's oldest courthouse still stands in Berrien Springs The 1839 Greek Revival courthouse in Berrien Springs is the oldest county courthouse left standing in Michigan, built when the county seat sat here on a square that's now a history museum.
- History and culture New Buffalo: the town the railroad made, then walked away from A shipwrecked captain named New Buffalo for his hometown in 1834; the Michigan Central made it the end of the line in 1849, then the tracks reached Chicago and the boom moved on.
- Rules and licenses Renting out your New Buffalo cottage? The city makes you register first The City of New Buffalo requires a short-term rental to be registered, inspected, and renewed each year before it can be rented; New Buffalo Township runs a separate rental license with its own rules.
- Outdoors Sarett Nature Center and the tower over the Paw Paw A 1963 gift of 130 acres along the Paw Paw River grew into Sarett Nature Center, where a 55-foot treetop tower lets you stand in the canopy over the river valley.
- History and culture St. Joseph's two pier lights and the catwalk that kept the keeper alive Two lighthouses on St. Joseph's north pier — a round outer light and a square inner one — are linked to shore by an elevated catwalk built so the keeper could reach them when waves swept the pier.
- Outdoors The bike ride that fills Three Oaks every last Sunday in September The Apple Cider Century, a bike tour through the orchards and back roads around Three Oaks, has run since 1974; up to several thousand riders pick routes from 15 to 100 miles each September.
- History and culture The company that built Buchanan, and the offices it left behind Clark Equipment grew from a free-rent startup into a Fortune 100 maker of axles, forklifts, and Bobcat loaders; its 1980s exit gutted Buchanan, but the offices are now on the National Register.
- History and culture The fountain that came to St. Joseph from a Chicago world's fair The Maids of the Mist fountain has stood on the St. Joseph bluff over Lake Michigan since 1892, when a hotel owner bought the figures off a Chicago exposition and shipped them across the lake.
- History and culture The lost French fort that Niles digs up every summer Fort St. Joseph, a French trading post occupied from 1691 to 1781, was lost for over a century beneath Niles until a 1998 survey relocated it; a Western Michigan University dig has worked the site each summer since.
- History and culture The Spanish cannon that Three Oaks bought with pennies A bronze Spanish cannon captured at Manila Bay sits in a Three Oaks park because the town's 1,400 residents out-gave every city in America, per person, for a Maine memorial.
- History and culture The sportswriter Hemingway admired grew up on Bond Street in Niles Ring Lardner, the satirical sportswriter behind 'You Know Me Al,' was born in Niles in 1885 and raised in a Gothic Revival house with a pipe organ and a toboggan slide; a marker downtown notes his birthplace.
- History and culture The university in Berrien Springs that started in Battle Creek Andrews University moved to Berrien Springs in 1901 as Emmanuel Missionary College, the Seventh-day Adventist school that began as Battle Creek College in 1874 and took its current name in 1960.
- History and culture The Watervliet mill that made the cards in your deck For most of the 20th century a paper mill on the Paw Paw River in Watervliet made the glossy coated stock behind Sears catalog covers, postage stamps, and millions of playing cards.
- Outdoors Why salmon line up below the Berrien Springs dam each fall A 1908 hydro dam at Berrien Springs blocked the St. Joseph River until a 1975 fish ladder let Lake Michigan salmon and steelhead climb past it, reopening miles of river to migrating fish.
- History and culture Harbor Country: where Carl Sandburg wrote Lincoln among the goats Chikaming Township's lakeside villages — Lakeside, Harbert, Union Pier — have drawn Chicago artists for a century; Carl Sandburg wrote his Pulitzer-winning Lincoln here.
- History and culture Benton Harbor and the House of David Benton Harbor's House of David colony became famous for bearded baseball, Eden Springs Park, and its miniature railway.
- Money and taxes Benton Harbor has a city income tax Benton Harbor is one of Michigan's local-income-tax cities, with a 1% resident rate and 0.5% nonresident work-in-city rate.
- History and culture Benton Harbor is Whirlpool's hometown Whirlpool began in the Benton Harbor-St. Joseph area and still anchors the local economy from its Benton Harbor-area headquarters.
- Home and property Benton Harbor's water and the lead-line replacement Benton Harbor's lead-in-water crisis triggered a full lead-service-line replacement program, and the city's water has since met lead standards.
- History and culture Niles, the City of Four Flags Niles is the City of Four Flags because Fort St. Joseph passed through French, British, Spanish, and American claims.
- History and culture St. Joseph's Silver Beach St. Joseph's Silver Beach carries a century of amusement-park history, carousel nostalgia, and Lake Michigan lighthouse views.
- Outdoors Grand Mere: three hidden lakes behind the dunes Grand Mere State Park near Stevensville hides three interdunal lakes behind Lake Michigan's dunes — a National Natural Landmark kept deliberately wild.
- History and culture Four Winds Casino and the Pokagon Band Four Winds New Buffalo is a major resort owned and operated by the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians.
- Outdoors Warren Dunes: the 240-foot sand mountains next door Warren Dunes State Park in Lake Township stacks 240-foot dunes over three miles of Lake Michigan beach — one of Michigan's most-visited parks.
- History and culture When Chicago summered on Paw Paw Lake A century ago, special trains delivered thousands of Chicagoans to Paw Paw Lake's hotels and dance pavilions; today the lake is Coloma and Watervliet's year-round backyard.
- History and culture The heart of Michigan's wine country Berrien County sits at the heart of the Lake Michigan Shore wine region, where lake-effect climate supports vineyards and fruit farms.
- Outdoors The Painted Turtle The painted turtle became Michigan's state reptile in 1995 — chosen by a class of Niles fifth-graders, which might make it the most Michigan symbol of all.
- Home and property Living near the Cook nuclear plant Homes around Bridgman and Lake Township may sit inside the Cook Nuclear Plant emergency planning zone, with B-WARN alerts, KI pills, and a Know Your Zone map.
- Home and property Living near the Palisades nuclear plant Homes 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 property Building near the Lake Michigan shoreline and on the dunes Lake Michigan shoreline and dune properties can be affected by Michigan critical-dune and high-risk-erosion-area permits.
- History and culture Michigan's original wine country is here, between the vines and the lake The Lake Michigan Shore wine region covers Berrien and Van Buren counties, where lake-tempered winters ripen grapes for dozens of tasting rooms.
- History and culture Blueberries, peaches, and the lake that makes them possible Southwest 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 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.