Kaleva, the Finnish village

Kaleva, in the middle of the county, was founded in 1900 as a settlement for Finnish immigrants, and it still wears that heritage proudly. The village is even named for the Kalevala, the national epic of Finland. You’ll find Finnish gifts in the old storefronts, a Finnish-themed village character, and a strong tie to the surrounding farm country settled by those early families.

Kaleva’s most famous building is the John J. Makinen Bottle House. A Finnish immigrant who ran the local bottling works, Makinen built the house in the early 1940s out of more than 60,000 glass bottles laid on their sides, with bottles spelling out “Happy Home” in the front wall. He died just before he could move in. Today it’s the Kaleva Historical Museum and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The village has two state historical markers — one for the Bottle House and one for Kaleva itself.

For buyers, Kaleva and the surrounding township offer affordable village lots and farm and wooded acreage, with Lake Michigan beaches and the Manistee National Forest both a short drive away. Homes outside the village are on wells and septic (see the well-and-septic note).