Seney - Michigan's Upper Peninsula

<html> <head> <title>Seney - Michigan's Upper Peninsula</title> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1"> <META Pragma: No-Cache> <META name="Pragma" No-Cache> <META Cache-control: No-Cache> <META HTTP-EQUIV="expires" CONTENT="Wed, 26 Feb 1997 08:21:57 GMT"> <META name="description" content="Profile of Seney, with candid descriptions of attractions, recommended restaurants, lodgings, campgrounds."> <base href="http://hunts-upguide.com/"> <link href="/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <center> <table width="100%" bgcolor="#F5F5D5" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 border=0> <tr> <td width="18%" colspan=2 height=82 bgcolor="#306799" valign="top"> <table width="100%" cellpadding=22 cellspacing=0 border=0> <tr> <td align="left"> <b><font size="-2" face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"> <font color="#FEE384">We welcome<br> your comments<br> experiences &<br> corrections.<br></font> <img src="images/1x1.gif" width=10 height=8 alt="---"><br> <a class="whitelinkunderlined" target="_top" href="http://hunts-upguide.com/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/dehunt/feedback.pl">E-mail us</a> </font> </b> </td> </tr> </table> </td> <td width="63%" height=82 bgcolor="#306799" align="center" valign="top"> <table cellpadding=22 cellspacing=0 border=0> <tr> <td align="center"> <img src="/images/online_words.gif" width=386 height=13 alt="The online version of the popular regional travel book""><br> <img src="images/1x1.gif" width=500 height=2 alt="---"><br> <nobr><font color="#FFFFFF" size="+2" face="Georgia,Times New Roman,Times"><b>Hunts' Guide to Michigan's UPPER PENINSULA</b></font></nobr><br> <img src="images/1x1.gif" width=500 height=7 alt="---"><br> <img src="/images/candid_words.gif" width=391 height=13 alt="A candid guide to enjoying and understanding the U.P."> </td> </tr> </table> </td> <td valign=top width="1%" bgcolor="#F5F5D5" rowspan=3>  <img src="images/1x1.gif" width=9 height=25 alt="|"></td> <td width="18%" rowspan=3 valign="top"> <a target="_top" href="/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/dehunt/click.pl?nextfile=http://hunts-upguide.com/up_travel_map.html"><img src="/ads/Small_map_ad_ver_6.gif" border=0 ALT="UP Travel Map ad" width=160 height=418></a> <p>  <a target="_top" href="http://www.wunderground.com/US/MI/Seney.html?bannertypeclick=bigtemptr"> <img src="http://banners.wunderground.com/weathersticker/bigtemptr_both/language/www/US/MI/Seney.gif" border=0 alt="Click for Seney, Michigan Forecast" height=94 width=185></a> <br> <img src="images/1x1.gif" width=20 height=3 alt="---"><br>  <center> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </center> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan=5 width="100%" height=9> <img src="images/1x1.gif" width=790 height=9 alt="---"></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="17%">  <table width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0> <tr> <td width="100%" valign="top">  <table width="100%" cellpadding=10 cellspacing=0 border=0 bgcolor="#306799"> <tr> <td valign="top" bgcolor="#306799"> <font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-2"> <b> <a class="sidebar" href="/" target="_top">Home</a><br> <img src="images/1x1.gif" width="85" height="5"><br> <a class="sidebar" href="tahquamenon___seney__grand_marais___whitefish_point.html" target="_top">Back to Tahquamenon & Seney, Grand Marais & Whitefish Point</a> <img src="images/1x1.gif" width="85" height="20"><br> </b> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="100%"> <table width="100%" border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=10 bgcolor="#FFE09B"> <tr> <td align="left"> <img src="images/1x1.gif" width=100 height=10 alt="-"><br> <font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1"> <center><font color="#C82F2C"><b>SENEY<br>POINTS<BR>OF INTEREST</b></font><br> </center> <font color="#263692" size="-2"> <p> <a name="e339"><b>Trout fishing on the Fox River.</b></a> Cool spring-fed water and DNR stocking creates good trout fishing on the legendary Fox, plus there are no steelhead or Chinook salmon to compete with the trout ... <a href="http://hunts-upguide.com/seney_trout_fishing_on_the_fox_river.html"><font color="#C82F2C">more</font></a> <p> <a name="e340"><b>Fox River Pathway.</b></a> This 27-mile hiking trail isn't all that interesting. The strange fields of charred tree stumps from long-ago fires can be diverting for a while, but the U.P. has many more striking trails for hikers and backpackers ... <a href="http://hunts-upguide.com/seney_fox_river_pathway.html"><font color="#C82F2C">more</font></a> <p> <p>   </font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> <tr> <td>   </td> </tr>  <tr> <td align="center"> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> <td valign=top width="1%" bgcolor="#F5F5D5">  <img src="images/1x1.gif" width="9" height=500 alt="|"> </td> <td valign=top width="63%">  <table width="100%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 border=0> <tr> <td valign=top align=center bgcolor="#018650" colspan=2> <center> <img src="images/1x1.gif" width="30" height=8 alt="-"><br> <b><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1"><a class="whitelink" href="tahquamenon___seney__grand_marais___whitefish_point.html" target="_top">Region: Tahquamenon & Seney, Grand Marais & Whitefish Point</a></font></b><br> <img src="images/1x1.gif" width="100%" height=3 alt="-"><br> <h1>SENEY</h1> <img src="images/1x1.gif" width="30" height=8 alt="-"></center></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="63%">  <table width="100%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=8 border=0> <tr> <td align="left">  <font face="Georgia"> <img src="images/1x1.gif" width=15 height=6 alt="-"><br> <table align="right" cellpadding=3 cellspacing=0 border=0 width=249> <tr> <td> <img src="http://hunts-upguide.com/photos/794.gif" width=249 height=333 alt="Seney church" border=0> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-2"> <b>It comes as a surprise to find that many Seney businesses are owned by Mennonites — the result of a Mennonite missionary outreach several decades ago. The wife and bookkeeper of the auto mechanic, for instance, wears a white bonnet and long dress. </b> </font> </td> </tr> </table> Once supposedly the Upper Peninsula's most raucous lumber town, Seney today is the crossroads of M-28 and M-77 next to the Fox River. Now it's best known to most vacationers as the starting point of the Seney Stretch, that mind-numbingly monotonous 30 miles of M-28 between Seney and Shingleton that's the most direct route from the Mackinac Bridge to Pictured Rocks and Marquette. Here the highway is almost straight as an arrow and flat as a pancake because it's crossing a swamp. The scraggly, flat, boring landscape can get burned into a motorist's brain and mistakenly become representative of the entire U.P. interior. <br><br><center> <table cellpadding=3 cellspacing=0 border=0 width=419> <tr> <td> <img src="http://hunts-upguide.com/photos/272.gif" width=419 height=497 alt="Seney museum" border=0> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-2"> <b>Seney’s railroad depot is now the Seney Museum. Highlights are the rowdy lumber town’s much-used jail cell and the Hemingway display.</b> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center><p> Forest fires destroyed the old town of Seney, a logging town with a reputation as one of the roughest lumber towns in the north woods. Today's little array of gas stations, restaurants, and motels spread out along M-28 doesn't reflect Seney's previous layout. All around Seney there's lots of <B>public land</B>, with opportunities for hunting and fishing, canoeing and kayaking, ORVs and ATVs, and snowmobiling. These recreational opportunities are detailed on the informative and extensive web site of the Fox River Motel, <A target="_top" href="http://www.foxrivermotel.com/">www.foxrivermotel.com</A> . The web site and phone line (906-499-3332) also have a <B>current snowmobile trail report</B>. Seney Township has built a <B>community recreation park</B> on the north side of M-28, with a playground, picnic tables, horseshoe pits, and volleyball. <br><br><center> <table cellpadding=3 cellspacing=0 border=0 width=299> <font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1"><b>...continued below...</b></font> <br clear="all"> <hr> <center> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </center> <hr> <tr> <td> <img src="http://hunts-upguide.com/photos/271.gif" width=299 height=460 alt="Seney Hemingway display" border=0> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-2"> <b>All the elements of Ernest Hemingway’s famous fishing trip in his memorable story “Big Two-Hearted River” have been assembled in a display created by Jack Jobst, Michigan Tech literature professor and Hemingway fan.</b> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center><p> What Seney is <B>famous</B> for is<B> fishing</B>. "Big Two Hearted River," Ernest Hemingway's most famous story, was actually based on his experiences fishing the Fox near Seney, not the Two Hearted. The Fox's fishing fame was revisited in an August, 1997 <I>National Geographic</I> article. At the <B>Seney Historical Museum</B> a nifty little exhibit in the old depot commemorates Hemingway's fishing trip to the Fox – the short story read by millions of American high school students. More Seney historical materials are in the former township hall and jail, connected by a walkway. The museum, now wheelchair-accessible, is from the second week of June through Labor Day, weekdays from 10 to 5, Sundays noon to five. It's south of M-28 and clearly signed. <I>Historical note:</I> this is <I>not </I>really where Nick Adams, the Hemingway alter ego, got off the train and started walking. The depot has been moved. <br><br> <table align="right" cellpadding=3 cellspacing=0 border=0 width=249> <tr> <td> <img src="http://hunts-upguide.com/photos/795.gif" width=249 height=220 alt="Seney DNR" border=0> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-2"> <b>It’s only fitting that a DNR field office — with two conspicuous images of Smokey the Bear — be located near the Great Manistique Swamp, home to so many fires after it was drained. </b> </font> </td> </tr> </table> <B>Andy's Seney Bar </B>is the town's remaining tavern. But once, the story goes, Seney was a teeming collection of drinking, gambling, and whoring establishments. (A downstater who loves visiting djistinctive U.P. bars calls Andy's one of the best.) Andy himself came up in 1978 from Traverse City to buy the old bar. The combined IGA grocery market and Golden Grill restaurant (now known as Seney Crossing) is now the town's biggest employer. Its owners and many employees are members of the Seney Mennonite Church. A group of Mennonites moved to the area together to establish an outreach ministry. A company that makes wood trusses for homes is the last remaining major lumber-related company. <br><br>Seney's colorful past and the exaggerations which embellished it, were recounted in the 1940 Writers' Project <I>Michigan: A Guide to the Wolverine State</I>: "Tales of license and corruption brought to Seney an investigating committee of newspaper reporters, among them one of the few women reporters of the day. Unimpressed by the gambling, fighting, drinking, and prostitution, she began her reports with a more horrifying story about what locals called ‘Ram's Pasture.' Yes, she wrote, the rumors from wild Seney were true–and more, the place was a hell camp of slavery! Strangers were being ‘shanghaied' on the frontier, shunted into camp, held in chained peonage, and tracked by fierce dogs when they attempted escape. Forced to work in the forest by day, they were marched into camp at nightfall and held in the ‘Ram's Pasture,' a stockade unfit even for dumb animals. The place was so overcrowded that the chained men were forced to sleep in shifts.<br><br>"This story made headlines in metropolitan dailies throughout the country. A congressional committee was kept out of the district only through efforts of Wall Street lumbermen and Michigan politicians, who denied the story indignantly. They stated that a hoax had been played upon the newspaperwoman by practical jokers who amused themselves concocting what she wanted to find. They told her that the ‘fierce dogs' which tracked down escaping ‘slaves' were mastiffs raised by a local saloon keeper. The ‘Ram's Pasture' was in truth the main floor of a crowded hotel, where the manager permitted men to sleep in 8-hour shifts on payment of regular rates in advance. The ‘armed guards' merely insured the prompt removal of sleeping men once their 8 hours was up. There was no slavery, no shanghaiing, no stockade. . . . [But] the lawless reputation of Seney was not unearned. Few places of its size ever had quite so many <B>picturesque characters</B> as this mad community. The most notorious figure of the group was the section hand Leon Czolgosz, who later assassinated President William McKinley. Another was P. J. Small, better known as ‘Snap Jaw,' who regularly earned drinks and food by biting off the heads of live snakes and frogs. Extending his talents one day, he snapped off the head of a lumberjack's pet owl, and the woodsman laid him low with a peavey handle. ‘Stuttering' Jim Gallagher left his mark–mostly with rough hobnail shoes–on the faces of those who found his speech amusing. ‘Protestant Bob' McGuire was a peaceful man with thumbnails like miniature bowie knives; he seldom fought, but, when he did, his opponent was left from the combat with gaping wounds across his face.<br><br>"‘Stub Foot' O'Donnell and ‘Pump Handle Joe' met incoming trains, stood strangers on their heads and shook out their loose change. ‘Old Light Heart,' who liked raw liver and slept in two sugar barrels turned end to end, eventually lost his toes by frostbite." <p align="right"><a href="tahquamenon___seney__grand_marais___whitefish_point.html" target="_top">Back to Tahquamenon & Seney, Grand Marais & Whitefish Point</a></p> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </td> <td width="37%" valign="top"> <table width="100%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=8 border=0> <tr> <td height="4" width="37%">  <img src="images/1x1.gif" width=15 height=1 alt="-"></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="center" bgcolor="#C7302D" width="37%">  <font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" color="#FFFFFF"> <b> <img src="images/1x1.gif" width=15 height=8 alt="-"><br> <font size="-1"> SENEY<br> RESTAURANTS,<br> LODGINGS<br> & CAMPGROUNDS </font> <br><img src="images/1x1.gif" width=15 height=6 alt="-"><br> <font size="-2">These are our choices, not ads.</font><br> <img src="images/1x1.gif" width=15 height=8 alt="-"><br> </b> </font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign=top bgcolor="#FFE09B" width="37%">  <img src="images/1x1.gif" width=15 height=9 alt="-"><br> <font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"> <center><font size="-1" color="#C82F2C"><b>SENEY<br>RESTAURANTS</b></font></center> <br> <font size="-2"> See also: Shingleton, Germfask, Curtis, McMillan, Helmer<br><img src="images/1x1.gif" width=15 height=8 alt="-"><br> <a name="e341"><b>SENEY CROSSING (FORMERLY GOLDEN GRILL)</b></a><br> (906) 499-3323 <br><img src="images/1x1.gif" width=15 height=5 alt="-"><br> In April 2005 new owners took over this<B> </B>big, bustling, unpretentious place. It's long been known for ample portions of home cooking at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and for a big salad and dessert bar. This has been a place where tourists and locals come together. The lunch special (about $6.25) includes soup, one meat (maybe a chicken dish, roast beef, or meat loaf) with the salad and dessert bar. There's a big buffet put out every day at 5 p.m., always with fried chicken, on Friday with fish and shrimp also. From Thursday through Sunday in summer, hunting season, and on snowmobile weekends there's a also big breakfast bar ($8 with meats, pancakes, and much more) from 8 to 11:30, on Sunday to 1 p.m. <br><img src="images/1x1.gif" width=15 height=5 alt="-"><br> <i>1525 West M-28 in Seney, south side of road adjoining the IGA. Open Mon-Sat 8 a.m.-8 p.m., to 8:30 in summer. Open Sunday 8 to 3. Handicap accessible. Family-friendly. No alcohol. </i> <p> </font> </font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#CDCCAD" valign="top"> <font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"> <img src="images/1x1.gif" width=15 height=9 alt="-"><br> <center><font size="-1" color="#C82F2C"><b>SENEY<br>LODGINGS</b></font></center> <br> <font size="-2"> See also: Germfask, Blaney Park, Curtis, Helmer, Newberry.<br><img src="images/1x1.gif" width=15 height=8 alt="-"><br> <a name="e342"><b>FOX RIVER MOTEL</b></a><br> (906) 499-3332; foxrivermotel.com <br><img src="images/1x1.gif" width=15 height=5 alt="-"><br> Not only do the motel's 13 guest units offer all sorts of conveniences, but owners Don and Diane Reed are up on most all things local. He's the Seney Township supervisor and a guide for bear hunting, deer hunting, and off-trail snowmobile adventures. Both Don and Diane hunt and fish. Retired from the army, they sponsor wilderness rides to honor vets, a snowsled ride the second Saturday of March and an ATV ride the first Saturday of October. (Vets free; inquire for details). Snowmobile rentals are on-site. <br>Three rooms have full kitchens, each with a full-size refrigerator, gas range, and dining area. Their average summer rate is $57. Five rooms ($47 average summer rates) have kitchenettes (minifridge, 2 burners, sink) and either one queen or two double beds. Six smaller rooms (also $47) have two double beds, a microwave and a minifridge. Winter rates are higher. 7 non-smoking rooms. The portable ionic air cleaner does a remarkably good job of removing smoke smells from other rooms. All rooms air-conditioned, with phones, cable TV, bathtubs, and in-room coffee. Decor is woodsy. Diane, a woodworker, enjoys adding custom shelves and handy storage inventions. <br><img src="images/1x1.gif" width=15 height=5 alt="-"><br> <i>On north side of M-28 at M-77 North, east of the intersection with M-77 South. Open year-round. Wheelchair-accessible: not officially. Rates by the room, not occupants. Dogs permitted.</i> <p> </font> </font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#B6DBA4" valign="top"> <font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"> <img src="images/1x1.gif" width=15 height=9 alt="-"><br> <center><font size="-1" color="#C82F2C"><b>SENEY<br>CAMPGROUNDS</b></font></center> <br> <font size="-2"> See also: Germfask, Curtis.<br><img src="images/1x1.gif" width=15 height=8 alt="-"><br> <a name="e343"><b>EAST BRANCH OF FOX RIVER CAMPGROUND/ LAKE SUPERIOR STATE FOREST</b></a><br> (906) 293-5131. Not reservable. <br><img src="images/1x1.gif" width=15 height=5 alt="-"><br> See section on camping around <a href="http://hunts-upguide.com/grand_marais.html" target="_top">Grand Marais</a>. <p> <a name="e344"><b>SENEY TOWNSHIP CAMPGROUND</b></a><br> (906) 499-3332. Not reservable. <br><img src="images/1x1.gif" width=15 height=5 alt="-"><br> SENEY TOWNSHIP CAMPGROUND<br>(906) 499-3332. Not reservable.<br>25 shady sites are served by electricity and pit toilets. No showers. The semi-circle of campsites is in a mostly shaded grassy area. The Fox River makes a big curve in back, with lots of river frontage and space for canoes. Some campers call this a hidden gem. The township continues to make improvements in campsite layout. Dogs OK on leashes. <i> March, 2008. </i> <br><img src="images/1x1.gif" width=15 height=5 alt="-"><br> <i>On Fox River Rd./CR 450 a half mile north of M-28. The road is on the river's west bank, almost opposite the T intersection of M-77 South at M-28. Handicap access: call.</i> <p> </font> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan=5 align="center">  <br> <center> <font size="+1" color="#454545" face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">Copyright © 1997-2007 Midwestern Guides</font> </center> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>