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Hunts' Guide to Michigan's UPPER PENINSULA
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JUST OUT!
A new edition of Hunts' Mapguide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Over 300 entries, all conveniently located on maps and chosen because we think they are the coolest things to do in the U.P. (No ad tie-ins!) Great choices for restaurants, hikes, shops, adventures, museums, boat trips, waterfalls, vistas, road trips, and much more!
To learn more click UP MAP GUIDE
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WHITEFISH POINT
POINTS
OF
INTEREST
Centennial Cranberry Farm. Take a self-guided tour, see a film about the cranberry harvest here, and visit the gift shop with sauces and vinegars made from cranberries harvested here on one of Michigan's very few cranberry farms, one where the same family has grown cranberries since 1876 ...
more
Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum & Whitefish Point Light Station. It's at the end of the road, but the parking lot of this superb museum is often full, a reflection of how much it has to offer, from Lake Superior's first lighthouse to an eerie atmosphere to convey the haunting world of underwater shipwrecks ...
more
Whitefish Point Bird Observatory. Many birders come to count, to band, to examine birds and to enjoy the massive spring and fall migrations at this birding hot spot where Whitefish Point juts out into Lake Superior. There's a small nature center and shop, and spring weekend programs. But the windswept point, Hawk Overlook, and the beach are beautiful places anytime in summer and fall ...
more
Lake Superior Nature Sanctuary/Michigan Nature Association. A remote, beautiful wilderness shoreline. Get guide through Michigan Nature Conservancy. ...
more
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Centennial Cranberry Farm
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Centennial Cranberry Farm
In the 1890s, cranberries were one of Whitefish Point's exports. John Clarke's farm, right here, was the first of some 18 cranberry farms. Clarke noticed that Native Americans sold wild cranberries and blueberries to Lake Superior schooners. He successfully tried farming them in the moist, sandy, acidic soils here, where Lake Superior moderates the cold climate. He bought his farm from the U.S. government in 1876. It was the nation's centennial year, hence, the farm's name. Other cranberry growers brought their harvest here, where it was easily shipped by boat to places like Chicago and St. Louis.
Most Midwestern cranberries today come from Wisconsin, the top U.S. cranberry producer. Centennial's farmers, Loren and Sharon House, take their wholesale crop to the Cliffstar processing plant in Warren, Wisconsin. There it is made into cranberry sauce and juice for Wal-Mart and many private labels.
The Houses have decided to take advantage of all the Shipwreck Museum traffic going past their side to Whitefish Point. They opened their historic farm, on a back road, to visitors. And they developed a self-guided tour with a half-hour video about growing and harvesting cranberries. A few picnic tables are by the harvesting equipment. Interpretive signs are by the cranberry marsh. The Houses's web site, www.centennialcranberry.com, is also quite informative.
With the help of Michigan cherry canners, they have created their own cranberry products, sold in their gift shop: vinaigrette, dried cranberries, cranberry butter, sauce, mustard, grilling sauce, salsa, and more. These are sold by mail year-round.
The tour sheds a common misconception about cranberries. They are not grown in water. That would make them rot. They like damp soil, such as ordinary garden soil if watered daily. Cranberry beds are surrounded by dikes, ditches, and roads, which are flooded at harvest time. Then boomboards are hooked together into long chains to corral the cranberries. Then they can be picked up by conveyors, loaded onto trucks, cleaned, and taken to be cleaned again. But this process is only for cranberries destined to be processed into sauce and other products. Fresh cranberries can't be bruised in picking and cleaning. They are picked dry by something like a lawnmower, and then bounced and separated to select only the firm ones.
Because of the House farm's isolation, there are few pests. Some years no pesticides at all are necessary. Lately bumblebees have shown up. Each one does the work of some 100 honeybees. Demand for organic cranberries is growing, Sharon House notes. She thinks the U.P. could support more cranberry farms, possibly organic. Of course, DNR and DEQ approval would be necessary, which wasn't the case with their grandfathered farm.
Harvest time in October is the most interesting time for a visit. Cranberries are sold here and also shipped to customers by the pound through October, sometimes into November. Orders for fresh cranberries are taken starting August 1, first-come, first-served. For a more exact harvest date, phone or e-mail in early October: e-mail giftshop@centennialcranberry.com.
March, 2008
10 miles north of Paradise on Whitefish Point Road to Wildcat Road. At sign, go 2 miles west. (906) 492-3314. Open from Memorial Day weekend through October, daily noon to 5. $8/car. Free admission in harvest time. Handicap access: several stairs.
Return to Whitefish Point
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