County note shelf
Delta County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Delta County. This shelf has 5 practical notes and 17 local stories.
22 notes
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- History and cultureA lumber baron's widow built Escanaba an arts centerThe Bonifas Arts Center in Escanaba lives in a 1938 golden-Kasota-stone hall that Catherine Bonifas built in memory of her timber-baron husband; it became a regional arts hub in 1974.
- OutdoorsDays River Pathway: nine miles of loops above the riverNorthwest of Gladstone, the Days River Pathway runs nine miles of stacked loops through pine and cedar ridges above the Days River, groomed for cross-country skiing in winter.
- History and cultureHow Escanaba got its own movieJeff Daniels set his deer-camp comedy 'Escanaba in da Moonlight' here, then filmed it in town in 2001 after raising the money from Michigan investors when Hollywood passed.
- Money and taxesIn Escanaba, your power bill comes from the cityEscanaba runs its own electric utility instead of buying from Consumers or DTE — the city owns the wires and serves about 6,000 customers, and its residential rate has run well below the state average.
- History and cultureNahma: the whole town that went up for saleNahma was a lumber company town built around the Bay de Noquet mill in 1881; when the saws stopped in 1951 the company put the entire town up for sale.
- OutdoorsThe 40-mile trail that follows an old canoe portageStarting east of Rapid River, the Bay de Noc–Grand Island Trail traces an ancient Chippewa portage route used to carry canoes between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.
- History and cultureThe French fishing villages at the end of the Garden PeninsulaSac Bay and Fairport, at the tip of the Garden Peninsula, were settled in the 1850s by French fishermen who left the offshore islands for the mainland to work the Bays de Noc.
- OutdoorsThe town ski hill Gladstone built itselfGladstone's Sports Park grew out of a 1937 ski club and a bought-up 78-acre farm on the Days River; the town still runs it, with rope tows, tubing runs, and night skiing.
- History and cultureThe town that invented the pet casketHoegh of Gladstone made the first pet casket sold in America, started in a basement in 1966, and still ships little styrene coffins for everything from a parakeet to a St. Bernard.
- History and cultureEscanaba: ore docks, a lighthouse, and the U.P.'s own fairEscanaba grew around iron-ore shipping; Sand Point Lighthouse and the U.P. State Fair keep two parts of that history visible today.
- History and cultureFayette, the town the iron company left behindAt the tip of the Garden Peninsula sits Fayette -- a complete 1860s iron-smelting company town, emptied in 1891 and preserved ever since, now one of the best-kept historic townsites in the country.
- OutdoorsFishing the Bays de NocGladstone and Escanaba sit on the Bays de Noc, where DNR surveys follow walleye, smallmouth bass, yellow perch, and other Great Lakes fish.
- History and cultureHow Delta County got its nameDelta County is named for the Greek letter -- because the county's original 1843 borders formed a neat triangle. Then it gave away so much territory that the triangle disappeared.
- History and cultureHow Gladstone got its name (and Kipling too)Gladstone was first called Minnewasca. In 1887, William D. Washburn pushed to rename it for a British prime minister after British capital helped finance the railroad.
- Money and taxesIs there a city income tax in Escanaba?Escanaba charges no city income tax -- neither does Gladstone, and neither does anywhere else in the Upper Peninsula. The nearest one is Grayling, well over a hundred miles away.
- OutdoorsPeninsula Point: a lighthouse and ten thousand butterfliesAt the wild tip of the Stonington Peninsula stands an 1865 lighthouse you can climb for free -- and every fall, clouds of monarch butterflies gather here before crossing Lake Michigan.
- History and cultureA Whole 1800s Town, Frozen in Time on a Lake Michigan CliffAn entire 1800s iron-smelting company town on the remote Garden Peninsula, abandoned in 1891 and so well-preserved it's one of America's best ghost towns.
- History and cultureHow 'Yooper' Made It Into the DictionaryIt took one Yooper more than a decade of letters (and a few pasties) to get the word 'Yooper' into the dictionary.
- Home and propertyWhat to know about well and septic in Delta CountyOutside Escanaba and Gladstone, most of Delta County is on private well and septic. Michigan has no statewide septic code, and the local health department doesn't require an inspection when a property is sold -- though it can evaluate a system if you ask.
- History and cultureFayette: the ghost town Delta County kept perfectDelta County's Garden Peninsula holds Fayette Historic State Park — a complete 1880s iron-smelting town preserved on a white-cliffed harbor.
- 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.