County note shelf
Huron County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Huron County. This shelf has 8 practical notes and 24 local stories.
32 notes
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- OutdoorsThe lighthouse two and a half miles out from Port AustinPort Austin Reef Light stands on a drowned reef well offshore from the tip of the Thumb, first lit in 1878 and now kept up by a local volunteer association.
- History and cultureThe widow who kept the light at Pointe aux BarquesWhen keeper Peter Shook drowned in 1849, his widow Catherine took over the light at the tip of the Thumb — becoming Michigan's first woman lighthouse keeper.
- OutdoorsA patch of sky dark enough to be protectedPort Crescent State Park near Port Austin is a state-designated dark sky preserve, with a viewing platform set far from the parking lot for stargazing over Lake Huron.
- History and cultureThe chimney that survived Port Hope's mill firesThe 1858 chimney at Stafford County Park survived two fires and successive versions of W. R. Stafford's sawmill; it is one of several historic mill stacks documented in Huron County, not Michigan's only one.
- OutdoorsA lumber boomtown buried under the dunesPort Crescent State Park's beach and forested dunes sit on top of a vanished lumber town — and a 120-foot brick sawmill chimney still stands among the campsites.
- History and cultureCaseville started as Port ElizabethThe beach town at the mouth of the Pigeon River was first called Port Elizabeth, then renamed Caseville for a Cleveland landowner whose agent built the first sawmill.
- History and cultureElkton and its two elk-name storiesElkton's official sources preserve two different explanations for the village name: an elk tangled in a clothesline, or an elk said to weigh a ton.
- History and cultureOwendale: two cousins, a drowned swamp, and a stand of oakOwendale began when two Saginaw cousins named Owen bought land in a place called the Columbia Swamp and built a sawmill to cut the oak growing in it.
- OutdoorsThe governor who signed state parks into being — and got one named backAlbert E. Sleeper State Park near Caseville honors the Huron County governor who signed the law that created Michigan's whole state park system.
- History and cultureThe lumber town a Yale professor turned into a museumHuron City near Port Austin froze in time when its lumber ran out — and a famous Yale professor preserved the whole village, including a house named for a Hawthorne novel.
- History and cultureThe town named for a bird that no longer existsPigeon takes its name from the Pigeon River, named by surveyors for the passenger pigeons that once darkened the sky over the Thumb — a bird now extinct.
- History and cultureThree missionaries, a crooked creek, and the start of SebewaingIn 1845, three Lutheran missionaries arrived on Saginaw Bay to live among the Chippewa — and the old mission house they left behind is now a museum in Sebewaing.
- History and cultureUbly's name arrived without its second eResidents proposed Ubley for their new post office. The approved name came back from Washington as Ubly, and the shorter spelling stayed.
- OutdoorsWild Fowl Bay: a flyway rest stop the size of a small countyThe marshes and uninhabited islands of Wild Fowl Bay near Bay Port form one of Michigan's largest state wildlife areas, a critical stopover for migrating birds.
- History and cultureCheeseburger in CasevilleCaseville's ten-day August festival turns the small Saginaw Bay beach town into a Jimmy Buffett-inspired party.
- History and cultureHarbor Beach: a harbor of refuge and Frank MurphyHarbor Beach grew around a Lake Huron harbor of refuge and was the hometown of Frank Murphy, who served as Michigan governor, U.S. attorney general, and Supreme Court justice.
- History and cultureHow Bad Axe got its name — and survived the fireBad Axe's name comes from a damaged axe found by road surveyors, and the town rebuilt after the devastating Great Thumb Fire of 1881.
- History and cultureSugar on the baySebewaing's sugar-beet factory and annual Michigan Sugar Festival keep the Saginaw Bay village tied to the Thumb's farm economy.
- History and cultureThe fishing port behind Bay Port's fish sandwich festivalBay Port's commercial fishing district reached the National Register in 1977, and a working fish company and local festival still carry the story forward.
- OutdoorsThe tip of the ThumbPort Austin sits at the tip of the Thumb, with beaches, a farmers market, kayaking, Turnip Rock, and the Port Austin Reef Lighthouse offshore.
- History and cultureWhere the world bought its grindstonesGrindstone City's sandstone quarries once shipped huge sharpening stones around the world, leaving a historic district east of Port Austin.
- Money and taxesNo city income tax hereBad Axe, Harbor Beach, and Caseville levy no city income tax, and the nearest cities that do charge one are more than an hour from the Thumb's tip.
- History and cultureWhy the Lower Peninsula Looks Like a Mitten — and How the Two Peninsulas ConnectMichigan's two main peninsulas are separated by the Straits of Mackinac. The five-mile Mackinac Bridge has carried road traffic between them since 1957.
- History and cultureIs the Whole Lower Peninsula Really Shaped Like a Mitten — and What's "The Thumb"?Michigan's Lower Peninsula really is mitten-shaped, and 'the Thumb' — the part jutting into Lake Huron, around Huron, Tuscola, and Sanilac counties — is a genuine, official nickname.
- Home and propertyBuying near the waterGreat Lakes shoreline property in Huron County can mean erosion history, public-trust beach access, and state permits for work near the water.
- Home and propertyWind country — turbines, leases, and who decidesIn Michigan's Thumb, wind turbines can affect rural land value, leases, views, local zoning, and state siting decisions.
- Home and propertyOut here, it's wells and septicOutside Huron County's cities and villages, most homes rely on private wells and septic systems, so inspections, water tests, and perc tests matter before buying.
- OutdoorsSaginaw Bay's walleye: a comeback for the record booksSaginaw Bay's once-collapsed walleye fishery recovered so completely that it's now ranked among the best in the country, with millions of fish and a busy charter fleet.
- 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.
- History and cultureThe Thumb feeds America its beansMichigan's Thumb is the nation's powerhouse for navy and black beans, and Tuscola County farmland is at the heart of it.
- 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.