MOHAWK

As the county with Michigan's smallest population (2,204 in 2004), Keweenaw can't support a supermarket. But it does have a "superette"— Mohawk Superette, the only place you can find fresh meat and produce.

This old mining town is the largest in a string of spare, plain mining settlements stretching along the central spine of the Keweenaw Peninsula north toward Copper Harbor. In all of Keweenaw County there are only about 2,200 full-time residents. Mohawk, Keweenaw County's biggest town, is the home of the county's biggest employer, the Keweenaw County Road Commission. It removes snow in winter and runs the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge in summer. It also sells the best map of the county's back roads. Find it by staying straight at the Y where the highway veers left, and then going a block to the right. The Mohawk Superette (906-337-2102) at 158 Stanton/ U.S. 41, is the county's only full-service grocery with meat and produce departments. It's a handy picnic stop.

Throughout the Keweenaw you can find century-old homes like this at 2nd and Mohawk streets which have virtually unchanged exteriors.

Within a block of downtown Mohawk, at 237 Fulton, is the home and shop of Philip Switzer, a Pentecostal Christian who carves ornate crosses and other objects. His crosses, ranging from three inches to five feet high, have been taken by missionaries to spots all across the globe. They sell for $20 to $100.

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