 | | Blaney Park’s company houses are sized right for retirees or summer residents. Larger buildings are used as lodgings like Blaney Lodge and Celibeth House B&B. | Blaney Park is one of many examples of old logging towns that live on in transmuted form. Twelve miles south of the Seney National Wildlife Refuge on M-77, it began as the company town of a logging company based in Chicago. In 1909 the townsite and some 33,000 acres were acquired by the Wisconsin Land and Lumber Company, inventors of the machinery that first produced tongue-and-groove flooring. (The office of its main mill in Hermansville, west of Escanaba, can still be visited today.)
 | | Blaney Park Lodge | By 1926 logging was over, and the next generation of the Earle family, owners of Wisconsin Land and Lumber, considered other possibilities for Blaney, including cattle ranching, forestry, and agriculture. The best possibility seemed to be recreation based on hunting and fishing. The Earles remodeled existing buildings and in 1927 opened the Blaney Park Resort – 33,000 acres of cutover land with many small lakes and streams. Old logging roads became hiking and riding trails. Eventually the resort's appeal was broadened with a restaurant, tennis, golf, and riding. Cottages were built. The mill town-become-resort never had the lush landscaping associated with resorts today. Hunting and fishing in the backcountry was always its big attraction. A private airfield enabled guests to fly in. (Edmund G. Love, usually an enthralling memoirist, tells the story of his summer as a college student working at the Blaney Park Resort in A Small Bequest . ...continued below...
Unfortunately, it doesn't measure up to his wonderful books about growing up in and around Flint, The Situation in Flushing and Hanging On, Or, How to Get Through a Depression and Enjoy Life – about the Great Depression as experienced in Flint.)
The resort thrived into the 1950s but then declined. The Earles auctioned off the land in 1984 and its town buildings in 1985. Many Earle family members remain in the area and keep in touch with subsequent owners of Blaney Park, a diverse bunch who breathed new life into the town. Today visitors stop in Blaney Park because of the Celibeth House bed and breakfast, Blaney Lodge, and Scott Barr's antiques shop in what used to be the Paul Bunyan Museum and General Store, at the south end of the village.
Back to Tahquamenon & Seney, Grand Marais & Whitefish Point
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BLANEY PARK
RESTAURANTS,
LODGINGS
& CAMPGROUNDS
These are our choices, not ads.
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BLANEY PARK
RESTAURANTS
See also: Manistique, Curtis, Gerrmfask, Helmer, McMillan, Seney.
The Blaney Inn restaurant in the former clubhouse of the Blaney Resort is closed for now due to the owners' health problems. The Poor Boy on U.S. 2 has changed ownership.
DREAMLAND
(906) 283-3122
A simple diner and bakery connected to a motel, Dreamland is known for big portions of home cooking. Ray Troxler passed away in 2004. His wife, Bern, continues making pork sausage, bread, and jam, so the sausage, egg, potato, and toast breakfast isn't just average fare. The combined lunch and dinner menu features daily specials and favorites like pasty and slaw, whitefish dinner, ham steak, liver and onions, and T bone steak, and homemade pie made with fresh fruit in season. The soup and salad bar of homemade items comes with steaks, for an extra charge with other entrées, or separately. Friday and Sunday evenings bring buffets.
On U.S. 2 two miles west of M-77 (near Blaney) and 7 miles east of Gulliver. Open from May thru Nov. daily from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. In summer open to 9 p.m. Call to confirm hours. Handicap accessible. Families. Full bar.
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BLANEY PARK
LODGINGS
See also: Curtis, Manistique, Germfask, Helmer, Seney.
Arranged from south (U.S. 2) to north.
Fire destroyed the residence/office of the Blaney Cottages; they are now closed. The Beaver Bay Resort is also closed and probably for sale.
BLANEY PARK MOTEL
(906) 283-3205
This clean, simple six-unit motel dates from an earlier era of the Blaney Resort. It provides good, inexpensive accommodations for a night or two with picnic tables outside. The TV gets 1 to 3 channels. Guests can use the office phone. Rooms are $40-$60.
East side of M-77 at U.S. 2. Open from sometime in May thru October. Handicap accessible: one step, small bathrooms. Dogs allowed.
BLANEY LODGE
(906) 283-3883; 1 (888) 252-6395; blaneylodge.com
This onetime hotel and boarding house of Wisconsin Land and Lumber, now freshened, is an attractive choice for travelers on a budget and/or those interested in offbeat historic places. Hosts Howard and Lorene Eldridge, Blaney boosters, go the extra mile. They put out a complimentary continental plus breakfast (homemade muffins, oatmeal and cold cereal, and fruit) on the front sun porch. The resort's front desk is now a comfortable lobby with fireplace, books, and games. The Eldridges end the day with evening pie and ice cream, and fireside chats with guests. Guests can use office phone. Some rooms are air-conditioned. Pilots can fly in here on the Blaney Resort's old air strip in back.
The 8 guest rooms are remarkably inexpensive: $34 for one person, $39 for two (one double bed, private bath), $49 for up to five people (in two rooms connected with a bath). Best to reserve 2-3 days ahead in summer. No smoking in lodge.
Each cottage building in the back has two units ($44, or $79 together), which can be connected. Units have microwave, coffeemaker, mini-fridge, 2-channel TV. The front unit sleeps 2-3: bedroom, full bath, living room with fireplace. Back unit: bedroom, bath, sunporch, sleeps 4. Smoking OK in cottages. Best to reserve ahead for summer. March, 2008
4395 M-77 on west side of road in Blaney Park. Handicap access: stairs, small baths. Call. Pets OK in cottages.
CELIBETH HOUSE BED & BREAKFAST
(906) 283-3409; search for photos, info on various sites
Built in 1895 as a residence, Celibeth (pronounced SEAL-uh-beth) was used by Wisconsin Land and Lumber as its Blaney headquarters. Then it became a tavern and inn for the Blaney Park Resort. It's a gracious, comfortable place, with a library, a fireplace in the living room; and 7 guest rooms (from $75, $80, and $85 to $125 for a large suite with sitting room and gas fireplace). One room sleeps four. 5 rooms are downstairs and 3 up. Each guest room is furnished with antique and vintage furniture, with a private bath. There's no TV anywhere. Guests can use the business phone.
A full breakfast and snacks with baked goods are served in the light-filled breakfast room. Wonderful extras are a big yard for croquet and Frisbee. Guests are welcome to explore the property with its meadows, beaver ponds, and plentiful wildlife, and fishing in Lake Anne Louise, formed by a logging dam. You can ski or snowshoe, but trains aren't groomed. Elsa Strom, who started the bed and breakfast, has retired but remains active in the area.
The innkeepers now are the energetic Darlene and Roger Cassady. Many vacationers know Darlene from her Little Bit of Country shop in Levering just south of the bridge. Darlene missed the variety of people she met in the shop, and relished a new project. Roger still works for Emmet County and comes to Blaney on his days off. Grandparents of 11, the Cassadys enjoy having well-behaved children at Celibeth House. March, 2008.
On M-77 at the north end of Blaney Park. Currently open April 1 to November 1. Handicap access: no ramps. Some steps. Polite children welcome. No pets.
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BLANEY PARK
CAMPGROUNDS
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