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MANISTIQUE
POINTS
OF
INTEREST
Downtown Manistique. Downtown is friendly, functional, and architecturally quite simple, despite Manistique's lumber town heritage. There's a most unusual Latin American import shop, a used paperback bookstore, and a large antique shop with vintage clothing ...
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East Breakwater Light and Manistique Boardwalk. A scenic, hardened two-mile walkway with picnic areas goes along the Lake Michigan shore. The beach alternates between sandy and rocky, in places backed by birches and cedars ...
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Mackinaw Trail Tasting Room and Winery. Tasting room of an award-winning U.P. winery ...
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Water Tower and "Siphon Bridge". Manistique's 200-foot 1920s neoclassical brick water tower is the town's defining landmark. It's next to the river and what was the famous "siphon bridge," below water level. ...
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Imogen Herbert Historical Museum. Lots of curious stuff in this little museum — a quilt made of neckties, a lampshade — and good photos of the many facets of Chicago Lumber, the company that once owned much of the town. In back there's a cabin once part of an 1890s agricultural commune. ...
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Traders' Point. Two pleasant shops: a café/bookstore and antiques. The outdoor eating area looks across the Manistique River to the marina. ...
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Rogers Park. This is the best Lake Michigan beach in the area-pure sand, free of the limestone cobbles along much of the shoreline. Also a picnic area ...
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Kewadin Casino, Manistique. One of the smaller U.P. Indian-run casinos, the Kewadin here has 2 blackjack tables and one roulette table, a poker room, and 80 slots. Free drinks while gaming ...
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Mackinaw Trail Tasting Room and Winery
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The Upper Peninsula's first licensed wine tasting room and winery isn't what you'd expect. There are no vineyards in the vicinity. But to make good wine, it's not always necessary to grow your own grapes. These days southwest Michigan vineyards produce enough grapes suited to sophisticated palates that they are sold as far away as California. (Mackinaw Trails' fruit wines are made from fruit grown in the Traverse City area.)
Winemaker Ralph Stabile grew up watching his Sicilian grandfather make wine outside Detroit, and he's kept up the tradition all his life. Turning 40, he decided to do what he cared about and make wine on a serious scale. Help from his wife, Laurie, his college-age children, and sister Frannie made the launch possible.
So far, they're off to a fabulous start: 1,200 cases sold in the first six weeks. And two prizes at the serious Michigan State Fair wine competition. His 2005 Cabernet Franc (about $25/bottle) won the gold medal in its category. It's a very dry wine, difficult to make. And his North Shore White blend (currently$13), a citrusy, sweeter, crisp wine, took a silver medal. The signature wine: the Big Red blend ($12) , soft and fruity, lightly sweetened but not aged in oak.
Ralph originally came to live in the area after his parents bought a resort in Curtis. He and Laurie are hoping to buy land for their own vineyard in the Garden Peninsula. After all, with Lake Michigan on two sides, it's quite a bit like northwest Michigan's grape-growing Old Mission or Leelanau peninsulas. Wines also available by mail; use phone.
From U.S. 2 at the east side of the bridge, turn south toward the lakeshore. Follow the sign to the marina. Open year-round.(906) 341-2303. May thru Sept open Mon-Sat 10-8, noon-5 Sun. Oct thru Dec: Mon-Sat 12-6, closed Sun. Jan-April open Thurs-Sat noon-5. Wheelchair-accessible.
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