County note shelf
Clare County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Clare County. This shelf has 6 practical notes and 13 local stories.
19 notes
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- History and cultureThe Doherty Hotel and the night the oil money came dueClare's Doherty Hotel, open since 1924, was a Prohibition-era haunt of the Detroit Purple Gang — and the spot where an oil baron was shot dead at the bar in 1938.
- History and cultureSpikehorn's wildlife park at the Harrison crossroadsJohn 'Spikehorn' Meyer ran a roadside wildlife park south of Harrison where visitors were invited to feed, pet, and even 'shake hands' with black bears.
- OutdoorsThe stone beach house the CCC built on Budd LakeWilson State Park sits on 36 wooded acres at the north end of Budd Lake in Harrison, on the old Wilson Brothers sawmill site, with a stone-and-wood beach house built by Depression-era CCC crews.
- History and cultureWhat Lake George's logging railroad was actually first atWinfield Scott Gerrish's 1877 line was Michigan's first common-carrier logging railroad, not the state's first railroad built to haul logs.
- History and cultureWhen oil came up under Clare and the mob came with itIn the early 1930s Clare sat at the edge of a central-Michigan oil boom, and the mob-backed Mammoth Producing & Refining Company grew into one of the biggest independent oil producers east of the Mississippi.
- OutdoorsSnow Snake: a ski hill and a golf course on the same Harrison groundSnow Snake Ski & Golf in Harrison runs a 210-foot ski hill with a dozen trails and two terrain parks in winter, then turns the same rolling, wooded ground into an 18-hole golf course.
- OutdoorsThe Tobacco River: little trout creeks named for old charactersThe Tobacco River rises in southeastern Clare County out of swampy headwater creeks — Beaver, Jose, Spikehorn, Mostellar — that hold wild brook and brown trout within easy reach of mid-Michigan anglers.
- History and cultureClare's Irish Festival and "City of Festivals"Clare leans into its Irish name and festival-town identity with the annual Clare Irish Festival.
- History and cultureCops & Doughnuts: the bakery the police boughtClare's police-owned Cops & Doughnuts bakery helped bring national attention and visitors back to downtown.
- History and cultureAmish country east of ClareThe countryside east and southeast of Clare is home to a longstanding Amish settlement around Colonville.
- Home and propertyNo city income tax in Clare CountyNeither Clare nor Harrison levies a city income tax, and neither do Mt. Pleasant or Midland; the nearest paycheck tax is Saginaw's 0.75% nonresident rate.
- History and cultureWhat Does "Up North" Actually Mean in Michigan?'Up North' isn't a direction in Michigan — it's a place and a feeling: cabins, lakes, and pine forests somewhere past the middle of the mitten, with a border no one can quite agree on.
- Home and propertyLake country: "Twenty lakes in twenty minutes"Clare County lakefront buyers should ask about lake boards, special assessments, lake rules, and septic systems near the water.
- OutdoorsThe Pere Marquette Rail TrailDowntown Clare and Farwell connect to the Pere Marquette rail-trail system for biking, walking, running, and skiing.
- Home and propertyOut in the township, you're on a well and septicClare County township homes commonly use private wells and septic systems, and resale inspection is buyer-beware.
- History and cultureClare: the police officers who saved a bakeryWhen Clare's longtime bakery was within weeks of closing, all nine members of the local police department banded together to save it.
- Money and taxesLive in a Michigan village? You pay an extra layer of property taxMichigan village residents usually pay village property taxes on top of township taxes, so the village boundary can change a buyer's total rate.
- 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.