Mesick, the Mushroom Capital

The little village of Mesick sits out in the southwest of the county. That is where M-37 and M-115 meet. It calls itself the Mushroom Capital of the United States. And it earns the title every spring. That is when the morel mushrooms push up through the warming woods. The village throws its Mushroom Festival. The hills around town fill with people hunting morels. These are the prized, honeycomb-capped kind. They grow so well in this sandy, wooded country.

Mesick got its start as a logging town in 1890. It was set down along the railroad and the nearby Manistee River. It became a village in 1901. The big timber is long gone. But the forests came back. And the mushrooms bring folks here now. So do the river, the trails, and the fishing. Maybe you’ve never hunted morels. A spring weekend in Mesick is about the best introduction you’ll find in Michigan.