County note shelf
Iosco County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Iosco County. This shelf has 4 practical notes and 12 local stories.
16 notes
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- History and cultureAlabaster: the gypsum mine that sent buckets out over Lake HuronAlabaster grew up around an open-pit gypsum mine opened in 1862, and for decades a mile-and-a-half cable tramway carried buckets of gypsum out over Saginaw Bay to waiting freighters.
- History and cultureCooke Dam: the first of six powerhouses on the lower Au SableCooke Dam began making electricity on the Au Sable in December 1911 — the first of six hydro plants the Foote brothers built between Mio and Lake Huron, once feeding a record-setting power line to Flint.
- History and cultureHow Tawas got its name: a chief, a bay, and a slip of the penTawas City takes its name from Chief O-ta-was, a Chippewa leader who camped on the bay — a name that early mapmakers reshaped by adding a letter, then dropping another.
- OutdoorsLumberman's Monument: three bronze loggers on the Au Sable bluffA 14-foot bronze of three loggers stands on a high bluff over the Au Sable River near Oscoda, dedicated in 1932 to the men who cut Michigan's white pine.
- OutdoorsTawas Point: the sandy hook that traps migrating birdsThe curving sand spit at Tawas Point funnels hundreds of migrating bird species into one small park each spring and fall, and shelters nesting piping plovers, an endangered Great Lakes shorebird.
- OutdoorsThe River Road byway: 22 miles of bluffs above the Au SableFrom the M-65 junction near Hale to Oscoda, the River Road Scenic Byway runs 22 miles along high bluffs over the Au Sable, past dam ponds, eagle perches, and Lumberman's Monument.
- OutdoorsWhittemore Speedway: small-town racing since 1948Whittemore Speedway traces its roots to local races in 1948 and remains Michigan's oldest operating racetrack.
- History and cultureTawas Point: the lighthouse and the "Cape Cod of the Midwest"Tawas Point State Park and its historic lighthouse define the Lake Huron shore in Baldwin Township.
- OutdoorsOscoda and the Au Sable RiverOscoda and Au Sable townships sit where the Au Sable River meets Lake Huron and the national forest.
- History and cultureThe Tawas twin cities: a Lake Huron resort townTawas City and East Tawas share Tawas Bay as Iosco County's resort and shopping hub.
- Money and taxesNo city income tax in Tawas City, East Tawas, or WhittemoreTawas City, East Tawas, and 414-person Whittemore charge no city income tax; the nearest city that does is Saginaw, over an hour south.
- OutdoorsLiving on the Lake Huron shore in Iosco CountyIosco County's Lake Huron shore centers on Tawas Bay, sandy beaches, harbors, and shoreline-buyer basics.
- OutdoorsInland Iosco: the Huron National Forest and the quiet westInland Iosco is forest, trails, hunting country, and the quieter west-side communities around M-65.
- Home and propertyWell and septic in rural Iosco CountyRural Iosco County homes often use private wells and septic systems, and buyers should inspect them before closing.
- 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.