December 13, 2010
Mid-Century Goodness In Grayling, MIBy RetroRuth
I stumbled upon these pictures while Tom and I were sorting through our photo archive during yesterday’s snowstorm. Brrr!
I took these pictures in Grayling, MI back in the beginning of October, and for various and sundry reasons hadn’t posted them. Well, today all the procrastination ends!
The reason we were in the Grayling area was to take a look at Hartwick Pines, which is apparently the largest stretch of virgin white pines in Michigan’s lower penninsula. It was really pretty, and had a logging camp museum in it that was actually nicely done. Anyway, what does all of this have to do with mid-century?
These cute frosted glasses were in the main section of the Hartwick Pines Welcome Century. It was a display about the history of Hartwick Pines State Park, and they had a lot of souvenirs in glass cases. These cute glasses were given away at gas stations in the area in the 1950′s. This set was owned by a local man and donated to the Park.
On the way back from the Park, we decided to stick to the back roads going home rather than the highway. This brought us through Grayling.
Grayling is a victim of the old story of “little town bypassed by big highway and forgotten in time”. During the 1950′s and 1960′s it was a vacation town. Today hotels such as Warbler’s Way Inn are for sale or sit empty on the side of the old highway US-27 that ran through Grayling. Today I-75 runs past the town and to the Mackinac Bridge.
The downtown is a throwback as well.
The old Chief Shoppenagon hotel and lounge, now vacant. When we peered inside, there were still furnishings from the 70′s abandoned in the lobby. The hotel was named after the real Chief Shoppenagon, a famed fishing guide and canoe maker who died in 1911. If you want to see a picture of the interior of the hotel in it’s heyday, click here.
The local bakery, which was still in business.
Look closely. Can you tell what this is???
That’s right, it is an old Ben Franklin store!
Photo from Wikipedia
It took me three times walking past the place to figure it out!
Despite some abandoned motels and main street stores, Grayling isn’t doing too badly. The town itself was very cute and well kept. And it also had a vintage diner and a bottle cap museum! Oh…you want to see those pictures? Well, you’ll have to come back tomorrow!
Kool Kitsch For Sale on eBay
by Sara In AZ - 1 Comment
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Sara in AZ
December 13, 2010 at 2:05 pm
What a sweet little town. So sad about all those old hotels. It would be so cool to go inside and check everything out now though!
Toni
December 13, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Bakersfield has a road that used to be the highway. It’s lined with cool old motels that are hovels now. I’ve snapped some pics of stuff to send to you guys, but I want to get more this Christmas (sister in law lives there)
RetroRuth
December 14, 2010 at 9:47 am
Sara! I know, I totally wanted into all of those places. I had to be content with pressing my nose up against the glass like a little kiddo.
Toni – Can’t wait to see some pics! That is awesome!
Eartha
December 14, 2010 at 12:31 pm
That Chief Shoppenagon place looks amazing! And I love it when furnishings are left inside as if at any moment, they’ll open the doors again.
It’s curious how they rearranged the “Ben Franklin” letters.
Dave Rice
June 18, 2012 at 10:14 am
My wife and I (before she was my wife) Took a weekend gettaway to Grayling when we lived in MI. It was a spur of the moment .. “Lets get outta here” type of trip, and I am SOOOO glad we took it. We rented snowmobiles and wound up eating at Chief Shoppenagon’s hotel. I havent a clue why we stopped in to eat there .. But when we did .. They had an ALL YOU CAN EAT seafood buffet! The best Ive EVER had. We talked to the locals, ate , drank , and this trip wound up being one of the best gettaways ever. So glad we had the opportunity to make memories there. So sad to hear it is no longer in buisness.
Who owns the property ? .. AND … Please tell me they plan on getting the buisness back up and going!