Copper Harbor's One Room Schoolhouse

Today is the official start of public schools in Michigan and we are featuring Copper Harbor's one room school house which is still in use today.  Dating back to 1850, only about 10 students attend their pre-school through eighth grade. It is the northernmost classroom in Michigan--some 650 miles north of Detroit. Their school motto is "To do your best, is the test!"

Eagle River Lighthouse

You'll miss it unless you are looking for it--the Eagle River Lighthouse on the shores of Lake Superior in the UP.  It is a private residence today, but the first operational lighthouse in Keweenaw's Eagle River was in 1857.  It was deactivated in 1908, but someone has taken the care to preserve it. This little community was born out of the copper rush in the mid 1800's and many of the homes are pre-civil war. Today about 1800 people live in Eagle River.

Keweenaw's Snowmometer

We screamed when we saw this, having heard of the legendary snowfalls in the UP, but actually seeing a measurement gives it much more emphasis! Maintained by the Keweenaw County Road Commission this snowmometer near Mohawk is a great tourist attraction. Last winter, the snow level was down to 195 inches which is only 16 feet. Normally the UP gets 20 feet a year. What shocks everyone is that in the winter of 1978-79, Keweenaw County got 32 and a half feet of snow! In metro Detroit, we get about 3-4 feet per winter.

Gay Bar in Keweenaw County

The tiny little town of Gay, Michigan sits on Lake Superior on Keweenaw's east side. It is famous for one thing: the Gay bar. Lots of hunters hang out here. You can have a local brew called "The Widowmaker", named after a piece of machinery in the mines that often fatally injured its user! Their menu features all types of hotdogs. We enjoyed our lunch and conversation with the locals. Suzie used to spend her summers here many moons ago visiting her Finnish relatives who lived just down the street and taught her about agate hunting at the beaches.

Eagle Harbor's 1927 Chrysler rescued

We were fascinated with the story of the rescue of these 220 brand new Chryslers from the ship City of Bangor that ran aground in Keweenaw bay back in the winter of 1927.  They were en route from Detroit to Duluth. The little museum on the grounds of the Eagle Harbor lighthouse tells a wild tale as eighteen of the cars fell into the Lake Superior. The rest were off-loaded in Copper Harbor, whose area is known for its massive snowfalls!  It took them all winter to get them back to Detroit, yet somehow this tiny museum has one of those beauties on display--we hear tell that some resourceful yooper had it hid in his garage for a few decades!

Copper Harbor Lighthouse Sunset Boat Tours

A sunset cruise and a tour of the Copper Harbor Lighthouse? It doesn't get any better than this. Native Yooper Captain Nick is full of stories and history of the Keweenaw area on Lake Superior. The only way to tour the lighthouse is by boat as land leading up to it is all private. But what a delightful treat. Boat tours take place all day long well into October (where you might experience snow as well!). Check them out here.

Eagle River's Jampot

We only know of one place in the world that makes wild thimbleberry jam and that is in the Keweenaw peninsula way up in the ear of the UP. The monks from the Society of St John run this place called the Jampot and they sell other goodies as well --like chocolate chip cookies, bread and muffins. You don't have to trek all the way there to get their merchandise....you can mail order it off their website!