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On Saturday I went from our camp to see the fall colors and stopped by Fayette. From 1867 to 1891 Fayette Michigan, in the Upper Peninsula, used dolomite from the adjacent cliffs, hardwood from the surrounding forest for charcoal and Iron ore from the Jackson Mine in Negaunee Michigan to smelt cast iron Pigs. These were shipped by sail boat to the steel mills on the lower Great Lakes. Hardwood logs recently dredged from Snail Shell Harbor at Fayette were over 200 years old when cut. The town was isolated and only accessible by ship or wagon road. Today it is a ghost town and a remarkable preservation of a 19th century industrial village. Most of the buildings were in very bad shape and a lot of the bricks and other material had been removed by local farmers and fishermen by 1900. THe State of Michigan acquired the site in 1951 and today it is a State Park. Students have used internships to determine things like the original layout of buildings and the original paint colors. A great deal of progress has been made here since I first came here in the 1960s. Many of the buildings are period theme museums and provide a time warp .
Charcoal furnace where the ore was melted and the pig iron cast into the sand floor of the furnace rooms. This was the industrial part of the village.
Carpenter shop in the industrial part of the village. There was also a blacksmith shop. The dolomite cliffs in the back ground is where the quarry was to make flux for the smelter, building stone for the town and lime for plaster and mortar. The lime kiln still stands as does one of the original charcoal kilns.
The commercial part of the village. The ruins of the store in the center and the hotel in the background. The company office building is on the right.
Working class neighborhood. Dirt streets with pigs and chickens and abundant filth in the alley between the log shacks according to early news articles. This reproduction cabin is based on pictures, archeological digs (that located the chimneys, size and staircase locations) and the cabins that had been removed and placed elsewhere. The attached shed is the laundry room.
Town dump site right in the lower class neighborhood. They just pushed it all out into Lake Michigan. How nice that must have been!
Middle class neighborhood, there are many of these houses still standing, but most are foundations only.
The upper crust area where management and the town doctor lived. Bigger houses, but the biggest was the managers house complete with servants quarters in the rear of the house.
Plant managers house.
Charcoal furnace where the ore was melted and the pig iron cast into the sand floor of the furnace rooms. This was the industrial part of the village.
Carpenter shop in the industrial part of the village. There was also a blacksmith shop. The dolomite cliffs in the back ground is where the quarry was to make flux for the smelter, building stone for the town and lime for plaster and mortar. The lime kiln still stands as does one of the original charcoal kilns.
The commercial part of the village. The ruins of the store in the center and the hotel in the background. The company office building is on the right.
Working class neighborhood. Dirt streets with pigs and chickens and abundant filth in the alley between the log shacks according to early news articles. This reproduction cabin is based on pictures, archeological digs (that located the chimneys, size and staircase locations) and the cabins that had been removed and placed elsewhere. The attached shed is the laundry room.
Town dump site right in the lower class neighborhood. They just pushed it all out into Lake Michigan. How nice that must have been!
Middle class neighborhood, there are many of these houses still standing, but most are foundations only.
The upper crust area where management and the town doctor lived. Bigger houses, but the biggest was the managers house complete with servants quarters in the rear of the house.
Plant managers house.
