County note shelf
Houghton County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Houghton County. This shelf has 5 practical notes and 13 local stories.
18 notes
Read the county shelf
- History and cultureHancock and the Copper Country's Finnish rootsWhen the copper mines needed workers, thousands of Finns crossed the ocean to the Keweenaw. Their mark is everywhere in Hancock -- in saunas, in pasties, in street signs, and in the Finnish American Heritage Center.
- Money and taxesIs there a city income tax in Houghton or Hancock?Neither Houghton nor Hancock charges a city income tax -- and neither does anywhere else in the Upper Peninsula. The nearest one is Grayling, well over a hundred miles away.
- History and cultureThe Portage Lake Lift Bridge, the heaviest of its kindThe big green bridge between Houghton and Hancock is the world's heaviest double-decked vertical-lift bridge -- and the only land link between the upper and lower halves of the Keweenaw Peninsula.
- History and cultureWho Houghton County is named forHoughton County, the city of Houghton, and even Houghton Lake all carry the name of Douglass Houghton -- Michigan's first state geologist, whose 1841 copper report set off the boom, and who drowned in Lake Superior at just thirty-six.
- History and cultureGeorge Gipp: The Gipper from LauriumThe Gipper from Laurium became Notre Dame's first All-American — and the source of the most famous deathbed line in sports, true or not.
- OutdoorsThe Wolves and Moose of Isle Royale Walked There Across a Bridge of IceThe wolves and moose of remote Isle Royale arrived across the water — and a 68-year study still tracks their rise and fall, with wolves now near a record high and moose crashing.
- History and cultureWhat We Know About the Italian Hall TragedyOn Christmas Eve 1913, a reported cry of "Fire!" sent a Calumet party crowd toward the stairs; 73 people died, 59 of them children.
- History and cultureMishipeshu, the Great Lynx Beneath the WavesIn Ojibwe oral tradition, Mishipeshu is an underwater panther associated with Lake Superior, sacred copper, storms, and safe passage.
- History and cultureThe Keweenaw copper rush started before California goldThe Keweenaw's copper rush began in the early 1840s, making it one of the first U.S. mineral rushes. Indigenous peoples had mined copper here for thousands of years before that.
- History and cultureThe Hand-Pie With a Crust You Weren't Supposed to EatThe U.P.'s beloved pasty came over with Cornish miners — and the famous story about its thick crust being a disposable handle is half legend.
- OutdoorsHungarian Falls: A Rugged Copper Country GorgeDover Creek runs through a steep gorge and a series of falls above Tamarack City. The trails are public, rustic, and close to cliffs with few barriers.
- History and cultureThe Isle Royale GreenstoneMichigan's state gem is a rare green stone with a 'turtleback' shimmer — born of billion-year-old lava, and findable only on Isle Royale (where you can't collect it) and the Keweenaw.
- Home and propertyWhat to know about well and septic in Houghton CountyOutside the cities and villages, most of Houghton 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 offers one that some home loans and buyers ask for.
- History and cultureCalumet, the town copper builtCalumet was once the beating heart of the world's richest copper district -- a booming, polyglot town of immigrants. Today its grand old buildings anchor Keweenaw National Historical Park, and a quiet memorial marks the Copper Country's deepest tragedy.
- History and cultureThe Quincy Mine, 'Old Reliable' above HancockThe red shaft-house on the hill above Hancock marks the Quincy Mine -- a copper mine that paid out for half a century, drove a shaft over a mile and a half deep, and holds the largest steam hoist engine ever built.
- 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.