County note shelf
Mason County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Mason County. This shelf has 4 practical notes and 15 local stories.
19 notes
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- History and cultureWhite Pine Village: a frontier town rebuilt under the pinesTwo miles south of Ludington, Historic White Pine Village brings together more than 30 buildings and exhibits from Mason County's past.
- OutdoorsLudington's breakwater light, built to take a beatingThe steel pyramidal lighthouse at the end of Ludington's pier was built in 1924 to shrug off Lake Michigan's waves — and it now leans a few degrees from a 1990s settling.
- History and cultureScottville got its name on a coin flipScottville was renamed in the 1880s when two businessmen flipped a coin on a downtown corner; Hiram Scott won the toss and put his own name on the town.
- History and cultureCuster, Michigan, and the year Custer fellThe Mason County community took George Armstrong Custer's name in 1876, the year he died at Little Bighorn; the surrounding township followed in 1878.
- History and cultureEpworth Heights: the Methodist summer colony on the dunesOn the dunes north of Ludington, Epworth Heights is a private Methodist summer colony founded in 1894, now hundreds of cottages run under an 1889 state resort law.
- History and cultureFree Soil, Michigan, is named for an antislavery partyFree Soil Township was named in 1848 for the Free Soil Party, the antislavery movement whose slogan was 'free soil, free labor, free men' — years before the Civil War.
- History and cultureHow Ludington's leftover brine became an industryA lumber company drilling for salt struck brine under Ludington in 1885, and the salty water beneath Mason County outlasted the pines — feeding Morton Salt and, later, a Dow chemical plant.
- History and cultureHamlin Lake and the town that washed awayHamlin Lake is Michigan's largest man-made lake, shaped by lumber dams and the lost town of Hamlin on the Big Sable River.
- OutdoorsLudington State Park and the Big Sable Point LightLudington State Park stretches between Lake Michigan and Hamlin Lake, with dunes, trails, beach, river paddling, and the Big Sable Point Light.
- History and cultureLudington's lakeshore plant works like a giant batterySouth of Ludington, the pumped storage plant works like a giant battery, moving Lake Michigan water uphill and back down to support the electric grid.
- History and cultureThe Pere Marquette name and Father MarquetteAround Ludington, the Pere Marquette name points back to Father Jacques Marquette and a long-debated Lake Michigan death-site tradition.
- History and cultureThe world-famous Scottville Clown BandScottville's long-running Clown Band has brought its joyful, noisy parade act to Michigan festivals for generations.
- OutdoorsBig Sable Point: A Striped Light Beyond the DunesThe 112-foot Big Sable Point Lighthouse stands at the end of a 1.8-mile park path open to walkers and cyclists, with seasonal tower climbs.
- Money and taxesGood news on city income tax in Mason CountyLudington and Scottville do not levy a city income tax, so Mason County has no local income tax on paychecks.
- History and cultureThe Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and Mason CountyThe 1855 reservation tied the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians to Custer and Eden townships, where Indian Town stood near the Pere Marquette River.
- Home and propertyWells and septic in Mason County: what buyers should knowMason County does not require point-of-sale well and septic inspections, so rural buyers should order their own checks.
- History and cultureThe S.S. Badger still carries cars across Lake MichiganLudington's S.S. Badger is a 1953 rail car ferry adapted for passengers and vehicles; it still crosses Lake Michigan on a seasonal schedule.
- 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.