County note shelf
Ogemaw County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Ogemaw County. This shelf has 4 practical notes and 12 local stories.
16 notes
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- OutdoorsAmbrose Lake: a hand-pump well and 25 sites in the state forestEleven miles north of West Branch, Ambrose Lake State Forest Campground offers 25 rustic sites on a quiet lake, with vault toilets, a hand-pumped well, and trails close by.
- OutdoorsOgemaw Hills Pathway: hiking a glacier's leftoversThe 15-mile Ogemaw Hills Pathway north of West Branch winds over the West Branch Moraine, a ridge of hills bulldozed up by the Saginaw Lobe of the last ice sheet.
- History and cultureOgemaw Springs: the town that lost the county seat by one voteOgemaw Springs was an early lumber settlement and nearly the county seat, losing to West Branch by one vote. Its old spring still flows along Maes Road.
- History and cultureOgemaw: a county named for a chief who spoke up to Lewis CassOgemaw County takes its name from the Anishinaabe word for chief, by way of Ogemaw-ge-gato, a Chippewa orator who argued against ceding Michigan land to territorial governor Lewis Cass.
- History and cultureThe hour that burned down Rose CityOn an April morning in 1910, fire tore through Rose City's business district in under an hour and destroyed thirty buildings. Many businesses never rebuilt.
- Cars and drivingWest Branch's smiley-face water tower, grinning at I-75A bright yellow smiley face painted on the West Branch water tower has greeted I-75 drivers for decades and earned the town its motto, the City with a Smile.
- History and cultureWest Branch's Victorian Art Fair, in a park named for an old familyEach August, West Branch fills Irons Park with hundreds of artists for the Victorian Art Fair, a free, period-themed festival tied to the town's preserved Victorian downtown.
- History and cultureRose City: a little lumber town turned trail townRose City grew from a lumber settlement called Churchill into a small outdoors town near the Rifle River Recreation Area.
- History and cultureWest Branch: the county seat and I-75 stopoverWest Branch is Ogemaw County's county seat, I-75 stopover, and practical shopping and services hub.
- Money and taxesGood news on city income tax in West Branch and Rose CityWest Branch and Rose City charge no city income tax; the nearest city that does is Grayling, about 45 miles up I-75.
- OutdoorsThe Rifle River Recreation Area, in your backyardThe Rifle River Recreation Area gives the Lupton and Rose City area a major state-park backyard.
- OutdoorsThe White-Tailed DeerNo symbol shapes the Michigan calendar like the white-tailed deer — state game mammal since 1997, and the reason much of the state pauses for two weeks each November.
- OutdoorsTrails, forest, and lakes: Ogemaw's outdoor lifeRural Ogemaw County is shaped by state forest, ORV and snowmobile trails, small lakes, and outdoor access.
- Home and propertyWell and septic in rural Ogemaw CountyMost Ogemaw County township homes 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.