Alger County Heritage Center

Behind the museum on the banks of Munising Bay, this rare American Fur Company log cabin dates from the 1830s. It was built on Grand Island by John Jacob Astor's legendary company. The interior has been meticulously restored.

For visitors to Munising Falls or Sand Point beach, it's easy to stop at this free local history museum in a former school. It's a very handsome school, erected with funds from Cleveland-Cliffs Iron and its benevolent ruler, William Gwinn Mather.

Of great interest to outsiders is American Fur Company log cabin #3, moved from Grand Island, to the museum grounds. The fur company, a venture of John Jacob Astor, had recently abandoned its Grand Island cabins at the time when pioneering European settler Abraham Williams came to the island. He brought his family there in July 1840 and moved into the cabins.

Museum volunteer Mary Edgar, fastidious about authenticity, patterned the cabin's furnishing after the carefully researched cabin at Michigan State University's museum. It looks as it might have been in the waning years of the fur trade in the 1830s, with reproduction trade goods (amulets, beads, food supplies, Hudson Bay blankets, calico fabric); pelts, snowshoes, and traps; and, suspended from the rafters, a birch bark canoe.

Another museum gem is the Munising Woodenware collection. It was made in the factory that moved here in 1911, after its Kalkaska factory burned. Munising Woodenware became a leading local employer and thrived in the 1920s. It made all sorts of things, from clothespins to tent pegs to pastry makers, rolling pins, meat tenderizers, and bowls, hand painted with flowers, ivy, and such. Original Munising Woodenware decorative items have become highly collectible. For woodenware history and pictures of new woodenware being produced, visit algercounty.com.

Grand Island's resort and game ranch years are represented by furniture from Hotel Williams and a mounted albino deer, part of the ranch's exotic animals collection.

In 2008 a new blacksmith shop permits living history and demonstrations. Call for hours.

The impressive historical society brings together history-minded summer people and local residents, They have long memories and an unusual repository of family stories extending back years before European settlement. The museum archives (photos, records, clippings) are a useful genealogical resource. Many photographs document the area since logging days.

The large gift shop carries numerous publications about the area, some found nowhere else. The remarkable Alger County: A Centennial History, 1885-1985 would appeal to history-loving visitors and area descendants. It has meaty articles on each township, on commercial fishing, tourism, agriculture, and various industries. It's 272 pp., hardcover, 8" x 11". $30 plus $6 shipping. Send a check or call for credit-card purchase. Who Were Those People? compiles sketches of various ethnic groups, including Poles in Munising itself, Ojibwa families, Swedish homesteaders, and more. Works by many local artists are also at the shop.
(—May, 2008)

On the lakeshore on the east side of town, 1/2 mile north of H-58/Munising Ave. It's on Washington St./Sand Point Rd. (906) 387-4308. Open year-round Tues-Sat noon to 3. May have longer summer hours; call. No admission fee; donations appreciated. Handicap access: main museum has an elevator to all floors. Log cabin has some steps, narrow doorway.

Return to Munising