Michigan 101:Ludington's Historic White Pine Village

I took a last trip to our nearest city, Ludington, MI to visit again the Historic White Pine Village and environs. The Village is a collection of vintage buildings that educate about the late 19th c when Ludington, along with Pentwater, Montague and Whitehall, were part of the lumbering boom. The woods across the state were cleared in short order. The lumber went to build, and after the great fire, rebuild Chicago. When the trees were gone entrepreneurs turned to growing sugar beets and beet sugar became a major industry in the state, farming on the land that had been covered by virgin timber. Some of the farmers were Ukrainian German refugees.

In the recreated period house were several quilts on beds. They are not all period pieces.

 

 There was a sewing and mending room with a nice pincushion.

The church is very picturesque. There is even a small cemetery.

 

There is a whole building commemorating the locally popular Scottville Clown Band. The members dress clownishly. Included is a quilt commemorating the band players over 100 years.

 

I saw a Fourth Order Fresnel Lens! This is the lens that would go with the brass oil lamp I have written about in my article about Girl and the Shipwreck Coast.

 

There was a recreated fur trappers cabin along with several other log houses.

 



It was such a beautiful day. The trees are just in flower.

After our visit we went down the road further to see Ludington from the other side of the lake that leads into Lake Michigan. This lake is fed by the Pere Marquette River, named for the Jesuit missionary who founded the state's first European settlement, and who died in Ludington in 1676. On the horizon you can see the newly built wind mill park that is nestled in the farmland.

A memorial stands where Pere Marquette was said to have died.

And we stopped at a nice park to see the sand dunes. The lake was still iced over in April, and the water temperature is still in the low 50s.

But back home in Pentwater the village is overrun with tourists, and cool weather did not stop them from going to the beach and even from dipping in the water! We saw sunburnt faces. Then, we had a long cold winter in Michigan and people are so happy to see sunshine and feel the warm sun! We had dinner at a restaurant that overlooks the Pentwater Lake.

It was a nice interlude between packing and our 'vacation' to clear out space in our retirement home. At this point it is filled with my folk's stuff and there is no room for anything of ours!