That’s from Muskegon???

From Lumber Town to Industrial Center

Our first stop on Lake Michigan, we camped on a small lake, about 3/4 mile to walk around the whole thing. It’s about equi-distant from Whitehall to the northwest and downtown Muskegon to the southwest. Muskegon is on the south side of Lake Muskegon, just off Lake Michigan by a short channel.

Oh My Goodness, did we learn a lot about Muskegon in 4 days. We had NO IDEA how many things Muskegon were developed/built here (e.g. Automatic Pinsetter) nor how big of a Port on Lake Michigan it is! We visited Muskegon all 4 days, with one morning trip north to Whitehall and a drive through Muskegon State Park, on the north side of Lake Muskegon.

Muskegon Area Touring Site Highlights

• Muskegon Union Depot & Visitor Center
• Muskegon Heritage Museum of Business and Industry, with FASCINATING exhibits showcasing the economic, industrial, and social history of the greater Muskegon area, including a working steam engine with a line shaft that runs 11 machine tools and a working Brunswick A-2 pinsetter, introduced in Muskegon in 1957.
• Muskegon Museum of History and Science, showcasing over 400 million years of Michigan history geologically, and 10,000 years of life, from giant Mastodons to fur traders, lumber barons and others.
• Hackley & Hume Home Historic Site, the magnificent houses and shared barn for Lumber Barons Charles Hackley and his partner Thomas Hume, built between 1887 and 1889.
• Fire Barn Museum, in the original C. H. Hackley Hose Company No. 2,formed in December 1875. Charles H. Hackley sponsored the twelve firemen in what was his first philanthropic gift to the City of Muskegon. It now features a collection of antique fire fighting apparatus.
• Scolnik House of the Depression Era, tells the story of families living in Muskegon during the Great Depression. For example, this once single family home was reconfigured for the owner’s familty to live downstairs with one bedroom, while renting out the upstairs. All the closets indicate that several original bedrooms were converted to kitchen, dining, living room.
• USS LST 393 Veterans Museum, all on the WWII USS LST 393, an LST-1-class tank landing ship which was at Omaha Beach
• USS Silversides Submarine Museum, with a great WWII & Submarine Museum, and tours of the USS Silversides Submarine, a Gato-Class World War II Submarine, and the USCGC Mclane, a US Coast Guard Cutter that served through Prohibition and World War II
• SS Milwaukee Clipper, the “Queen of the Great Lakes,” she carried untold thousands of passengers and automobiles between Muskegon and Milwaukee, from 1941 until 1970.
• White River Light Station & Museum, in Whitehall and Muskegon South Pierhead Light, at the entrance to the channel between Lake Michigan and Lake Muskegon

Heading north along Lake Michigan for Sleeping Bear Dunes

For more pictures, see (in-work) Adventure Album:  Great Lakes East

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