The village of Roscommon: county seat on the Au Sable

Roscommon is the county’s only incorporated community and its county seat — a small village of around a thousand people set in the middle of Higgins Township. (Worth knowing: this is the village of Roscommon, not Roscommon Township, which is a separate place out on Houghton Lake.) The county and village take their name from County Roscommon in Ireland, and like most towns up here, Roscommon grew into a logging town after the railroad came through in the 1870s.

What makes the village stand out today is the South Branch of the Au Sable River, which runs right through it. The Au Sable is one of Michigan’s premier trout rivers, and the South Branch is a favorite for fly-fishing, canoeing, and kayaking — so the village makes a natural base for anyone drawn to the water. The compact downtown sits where M-18 and Business Loop I-75 — the route locals still call Old 76 — run through the village.

Roscommon is also home to the Michigan Firemen’s Memorial, which honors firefighters from across the state who died in the line of duty. Each September the village hosts the Firemen’s Memorial Festival, an annual gathering that brings firefighters and families from around Michigan — a meaningful part of the village’s identity, and one of its busiest weekends of the year.