Northern Michigan
Categories: Michigan geography
Northern Michigan - or more properly Northern Lower Michigan - is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan, popular as a tourist destination, resort area, and vacation area. It is home to several small- to medium-sized cities, extensive state and national forests, lakes and rivers, and Great Lakes shoreline. The region has a significant seasonal population much like other regions that depend on tourism as their main industry.
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Geography
The region is not precisely defined, with residents in the far southern part of the state tending to include areas just north of Flint and Grand Rapids, but more northern residents restricting it to the area north of Mount Pleasant: the "fingers" of the mitten-like shape of the Lower Peninsula. People from Northern Michigan generally use the term "down state" to refer to people and places south of the region.
Across the Straits of Mackinac, to the north and west, lies the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Despite its geographic location as the most northerly part of Michigan, the Upper Peninsula is not usually included in the definition of Northern Michigan (although Northern Michigan University is located in the U.P. city of Marquette), and is instead regarded by Michigan residents as a distinct region of the state. The two regions are connected by the Mackinac Bridge.
Summer Destinations
Many city dwellers from "downstate" and nearby areas (notably Chicago) have summer vacation homes in Northern Michigan. The largest resort cities in Northern Michigan are in the west, on Lake Michigan with sand beaches and warm bays. Popular tourist cities in Northern Michigan are Traverse City, Charlevoix, Petoskey, Bay Shore, Harbor Springs, Mackinaw City, and Mackinac Island, which lies between the mainland and the Upper Peninsula. Boating, golf, and camping are leading activities.
Non-Summer Destinations
A large number of ski resorts are located on the western side (some also serve as summer golf resorts) include Boyne Mountain, Boyne Highlands, and Nubs Nob.
Fall activities include harvest festivals, and driving around in the woods to watch the colorful fall leaves. Hunting in Northern michigan is a popular fall pastime. There are seasons for bow hunting as well as for using guns. The opening day of deer season is often an unofficial local holiday, so important that a number of area high schools close on that day.
In the Winter, there are a variaty of sports that are enjoyed by the locals as well as drawing visitors to Northern Michigan. Snowmobiling, also called sledding, is popular with hundreds of miles of interconnected groomed trails crossing the region. Icefishing is popular activities. Tip-up Town on Houghton Lake is a major ice-fishing, snowmobiling and winter sports festival, and is unique in that it is a village that assembles out on the frozen lake surface.
History and Local Culture
Northern Michigan was inhabited by Native American tribes well before English settlers founded a fort on Mackinac Island. Later, industry depended on natural resources such as lumber and fur trading which contributed to the rise of Traverse City. When the railroads connected Northern Michigan to the large cities through Kalamazoo, some wealthy urbanites established summer home associations in Charlevoix and Bay Shore. As the railroads declined in the 1960's and 1970s with the advent of automobile travel, aggressive promotion of Northern Michigan by local chambers of commerce led to many of the festivals and attractions that bring visitors north even today.
The area was populated by a number of different ethnic groups including New Englanders, Germans, and Poles while Native American reservations exsist at Mount Pleasant and on the Leelenau Peninsula.
Economy
Historically, lumbering and commercial fishing were among the most important industries. Logging is still important but at a mere fraction of its heyday output. Commercial fishing is a minor activity. Agriculture is limited by the climate and soil conditions in some areas commpared to southern regions of the state. It includes significant potato and dry bean farms in the east and wine grapes, vegetables and cherries in the west on the protected microclimates around Grand Traverse Bay, which is listed as one of the most endangered agricultural regions in the U.S. as its scenic land is highly sought after for vacation homes.
Large industries are few although cement-making and limestone and gypsum mining occur on the Lake Huron shore. Much of Michigan's natural gas extraction is from wells in Northern Michigan. A small number of men work on the Great Lakes freighters.
Festivals
A number of annual festivals occur in Northern Michigan including:
- Venetian Festival (Charlevoix)
- National Cherry Festival (Traverse City)
- Alpine Festival (Gaylord)
- Brown Trout Festival (Rogers City)
- Tip-Up Town (Houghton Lake)
- Au Sable Canoe Race
- Posen Potato Festival
The Chicago to Mackinac Boat Race and Port Huron to Mackinac Boat Race yacht races both end on Mackinaw Island and the Au Sable Canoe Marathon, one of the few pro-am canoeing events in the U.S. occurs on the Au Sable River, where winning times may be as long as 21 hours.
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