Lapeer: Michigan's oldest working courthouse, and horse country out the back door

The white columns rising over downtown Lapeer belong to a building that has watched nearly all of Michigan history go by. The Lapeer County Courthouse was completed in 1846. The county calls it Michigan’s oldest operating courthouse still serving its original purpose. Its Greek Revival portico and cupola went up when Michigan was barely nine years old, and the building remains in use instead of sitting behind museum glass. The county also rents it for weddings and special events.

South and east of town, the land rolls into something unexpected: Metamora horse country. White fences, hay barns, and hunt-club fields spread over some of the prettiest hills in the Lower Peninsula. The Metamora Hunt has ridden here since the 1920s. The village crossroads keeps a horse-town charm that draws Sunday drivers all fall. Add the lakes and state game areas threading the county’s north, and Lapeer’s pitch writes itself: deep roots, open country, an hour from everything.