4 Amazing Stories About the Michigan Indian Trails of The Upper Thumb
The first major highways were based on trails Native Americans has used for centuries throughout Michigan.
Here are four tidbits about those trails in Michigan’s Upper Thumb.
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The first major highways were based on trails Native Americans has used for centuries throughout Michigan.
Here are four tidbits about those trails in Michigan’s Upper Thumb.
Huron City Michigan is a historic district and museum with buildings from the 1800s. The town was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. The tiny town is open for tours on Friday and Saturday during July & August.
The St. Joseph Trail was an ancient major native American route that traversed the southern portion of Michigan—originating near the mouth of the St. Joseph river, it continued eastward terminating near Ann Arbor and connecting with the other major trail systems along the Straits of Detroit.
In October of 1871, a great forest fire swept across much of the Thumb region including the section of Michigan that included the lands of the former colony of Ora Labora. The colony was in the process of being disbanded and the lands sold off, but large holdings remained including some cabins and buildings. The colony’s benefactor and primary landowner, the Harmony Society immediately sent $200 for distribution among the needy.
The Pigeon Historical Society to relocate and restore two cabins that were originally located in the 1800s German religious colony called Ora Labora.
Ora Labora known as “Christian German Agricultural and Benevolent Society of Ora et Labora” (Pray and Work), where it’s parishioners could combine work with prayer, and live according to the Methodist Church Discipline. Founded in 1862 on Michigan’s Wild Fowl Bay, the colony disappeared in 1867
The Northern Michigan Jewish Colony of Palestine located outside of Bad Axe began in the late 1883 and lasted for over 20 years.