In 1858, in what was then a remote wilderness, the Rev. Charles E. Bailey and four families from his Ohio Congregational parish founded Benzonia colony. It was to be an "educational Christian colony" modeled after the earlier Congregational . . . — — Map (db m97478) HM
Historian, author, editor, Bruce Catton (1899-1978) is best known for his two Civil War trilogies -- The Army of the Potomac and The Centennial History of the Civil War. Born in Petoskey, Catton spent most of his childhood in Benzonia, . . . — — Map (db m97480) HM
This building was a girls dormitory erected in 1909 for the Benzonia Academy. Named Mills Cottage in honor of the Reverend Harlow S. Mills, pastor of Benzonia Congregational Church from 1896 to 1916, it became property of that church when the . . . — — Map (db m97479) HM
Dedicated to the memory of the pioneers, who, in 1858, came to this region, then an unbroken forest, to establish a Christian community and college. Here they founded the earliest institution of higher learning in northern Michigan which was a . . . — — Map (db m228944) HM
William Davis. the son of
a plantation owner and a
slave woman, came here
with his wife. Mildred
Brand, and their children
in 1863. They were among
the area's first black
landowners. Upon the
death of his daughter in
1870, William Davis . . . — — Map (db m192394) HM
In 1873 an ambitious but ill-advised project was put through in an effort to connect Crystal Lake and Lake Michigan with a navigable channel. The original level of Crystal Lake was, at that time, much higher than its present level. The project was a . . . — — Map (db m97481) HM
On January 26, 1868, twenty-three early Frankfort residents founded First Congregational Church of Frankfort. They received guidance from an established Congregational Church in Benzonia, Michigan. In accordance with the practices of . . . — — Map (db m168222) HM
On December 12, 1891, the Lighthouse Board issued a "Notice to Mariners" informing them that a long sought steam-powered fog signal, featuring two 10-inch whistles similar to those then used on locomotives, had been installed at Point Betsie. . . . — — Map (db m98327) HM
Yes, we have a gravestone at Point Betsie but alas no grave. Edward Wheaton, Keeper 1934 to 1946, made this gravestone to honor his mother, Martha Madsen Wheaton, 1857 to 1941. She died in Cheboygan.
Keeper Edward Wheaton could not lift the . . . — — Map (db m98323) HM
On May 18, 1675, Father Jacques Marquette, the great Jesuit missionary and explorer, died and was buried by two French companions somewhere along the Lake Michigan shore of the lower peninsula. Marquette had been returning to his mission at St. . . . — — Map (db m97466) HM
Prior to 1892, large quantities of kerosene that fueled Point Betsie's beacon and apartment lamps, etc., was kept at the base of the lighthouses tower. As at other light stations, a separate building was erected here in 1892 to provide safer . . . — — Map (db m98330) HM
Thompsonville Junction
Constructed in 1889, Thompsonville Junction’s diamond crossing formed the intersection of the Chicago and Western Michigan Railroad (eventually the Chesapeake and Ohio) and the Frankfort and Southeastern Railroad . . . — — Map (db m228950) HM
