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FAREWELL TO BACHELORHOOD: Ernest Hemingway’s Wedding in Northern Michigan

August 1, 2021August 3, 2021 Dianna Stampfler 100 years, 1921, centennial, Ernest Hemingway, hemingway, Historic Wedding, horton bay, michigan, michigan history, northern michigan, pure michigan, walloon lake

It should come as no surprise that Ernest Hemingway chose northern Michigan as the setting for his first wedding. This rural countryside was his first real love, so it was fitting that he and his muse would begin their marriage alongside the towering trees and flowing rivers which shaped his life. This year – September 3 – marks the 100th anniversary of the marriage between Hemingway (at the time, a life-long summer resident on Walloon Lake) and Hadley Richardson.

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Michigan Cities & Sites that Pre-date the Signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776

July 4, 2021April 8, 2021 Dianna Stampfler detroit, father marquette, fort michilmackinac, historic cities, independence day, michigan, michigan history, sault ste marie

The United States celebrates its 243rd birthday today…but several Michigan communities pre-date the historic signing of the Declaration of Independence

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Michigan’s Superman Connections

June 5, 2021 Dianna Stampfler christopher reeve, dean cain, ice cream, pure michigan, strohs, superman, tom welling

June 12 has been declared “Superman Day” – celebrating this super hero first created in 1933 by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel (writer and illustrator, respectively). Did you know Michigan has at least two connections to this long-standing franchise?

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Memories of Memorial Weekend

May 27, 2021May 28, 2021 Dianna Stampfler mackinac island, mackinaw city, memorial day, memorial weekend, pure michigan, straits of mackinac

Memorial Day has always been an important day in our family – given that my brother and me were both born on May 30 (5 years apart, 1964 and 1969 respectively). As a young child, I always felt the parade was just for us…in celebration of our birthdays.

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Mothers of Michigan’s Lights

May 6, 2021August 3, 2021 Dianna Stampfler female, great lakes, keeper, lighthouse, maritime history, michigan, michigan history, mothers day

Michigan’s many historic lighthouses were home to dozens of women who served as keepers while also raising their families in often remote locations. This Mother’s Day, we pay tribute to these “Mothers of the Lights” here in the Great Lakes State!

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Was Hemingway REALLY here, there and everywhere in Michigan?

April 8, 2021August 3, 2021 Dianna Stampfler

Over the past few years, a handful of communities have claimed that the award-winning author Ernest Hemingway had ate, drank, slept, hunted, fished or visited, with little or no actual proof that said statements were true.

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The American Robin Celebrates 90 Years as Michigan’s State Bird

April 6, 2021August 3, 2021 Dianna Stampfler birds, michigan, michigan audubon society, pure michigan, robin, spring, state bird

A sure sign of spring…the return of the robins to Michigan! In April 1931, the American robin (Turdus migratorius) was chosen as Michigan’s official state bird – one of three to claim this red-breasted aviary as its state bird (the others are Connecticut and Wisconsin).

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For the Love of Michigan Libraries

April 1, 2021April 4, 2021 Dianna Stampfler books, carnegie, gettysburg, hemingway, librarian, libraries, michigan library, national library week, plainwell, reading

The first library that I remember in my hometown of Plainwell was inside 335 East Bridge Street (now a private home). My recollections are vague, but cloudy visions of story time are tucked in the back corner of my mind. I recall being jealous of my classmate Susan who later lived in the house…how lucky was she to reside inside a former library!

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Tragedy on South Manitou Island

March 15, 2021 Dianna Stampfler great lakes, lake michigan, michigan lighthouse, sheridan, sleeping bear dunes, south manitou island

Lighthouse keeper Aaron Sheridan was a Civil War soldier who lost the use of his arm in battle and as such, he was able to get his wife — Julia — appointed his assistant keeper oft his important beacon in the norther part of Lake Michigan. Given his injuries, when he needed to make the trip across the waters to the mainland, Aaron would often hire a local fisherman named Christ Ancharson to man the 25-foot Mackinaw sailboat. During such a trip, on Friday, March 15, 1878, high waves and bad weather overturned the boat just as it was approaching the harbor on South Manitou Island. Sadly, the Sheridans — including their infant son, Robert — died that day.

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Detroit’s Lost Mamajuda Lighthouse

March 9, 2021 Dianna Stampfler

One of Michigan’s many lost lighthouses – which boasted a female keeper for 11 years – also has ties to one of the state’s most significant figures in American history. The Mamajuda Lighthouse was built in 1849 (and rebuilt in 1866) in the Detroit River. The last keeper served there in 1921 and by the 1950s, the light had toppled into the water (which today covers the island). All is lost to time…but the history remains!

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Keweenaw Peninsula’s Unofficial Female Lighthouse Keeper, Henrietta Bergh

March 2, 2021March 2, 2021 Dianna Stampfler

Over the past 170-plus years, women have been serving as lighthouse keepers in Michigan…sometimes officially recognized by the U.S. Lighthouse Service and sometimes not. Such is the case with Hansine Henrietta (Anderson) Bergh in Bete Gris. While she didn’t work at the official lighthouse she was known to hang a lantern in the window of her house so that her husband and other fishermen could find their way back home after dark. This story includes information gathered from her great great granddaughter, Nora Dee.

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2021 Milestones for Pure Michigan Businesses

December 29, 2020January 15, 2021 Dianna Stampfler centennial, history, lighthouse, michigan, pure michigan, Sesquicentennial, state park

Michigan was founded on January 26, 1837 as the 26th state of the United States of America. Currently home to nearly 10 million people, spread out throughout two peninsulas, Michigan is the Great Lakes State – the Mitten of Plenty – the Wolverine State. Michigan’s early business history is centered in industries that benefited from its proximity to the Great Lakes: fishing, lumbering, mining, fur trapping and agriculture.

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Holiday Classic “White Christmas” Was Likely Written in Charlevoix

December 20, 2020 Dianna Stampfler bing crosby, charlevoix, christmas, danny kaye, earl young, holidays, hollywood, lake michigan, little traverse bay, michigan, mushroom house, norman panama, northern michigan, pure michigan, rosemary clooney, white christmas

Each holiday season, we are inundated with hour after hour of movies about Christmas airing on television and now streaming services. A handful have ties to Michigan, like Prancer (1989) and The Polar Express (2004). But did you know the beloved 1954 classic White Christmas is believed to have actually been written right here in the Great Lakes State?

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