Antiques and old houses on the Chicago Road

The old Chicago Road runs straight across the top of Hillsdale County. This is the historic Sauk Trail, now US-12. A couple of stops along it are worth a detour. The village of Allen is tiny. Still, it calls itself the “Antique Capital of Michigan,” and it earns the title. A short stretch of US-12 is packed with antique malls and shops. The local joke: spend just one minute at every booth in town, and you’d still need more than two days to see them all. (The same route hosts Michigan’s Longest Garage Sale each summer.)

A few miles east sits Jonesville, one of the older towns in the county. It shows its age, too, with a main street of 19th-century buildings. Its centerpiece is the Grosvenor House, an 1874 Italianate mansion that’s now a house museum. The same architect designed the Michigan State Capitol. Jonesville is also home to the Munro House, a stately old home. It was once a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Allen’s antique malls line US-12 through the village; the Grosvenor House Museum is at 211 Maumee Street in Jonesville.