By P.G. Misty Sheehan
It’s a beautiful day. Fluffy cumulus clouds are floating by in a bright-blue sky. The weather is perfect. I breathe in its freshness and want to go somewhere outside. I google and find self-guided historic tours posted on visitmanisteecounty.com. One-quarter of the 100 historic sites found in eight self-guided tours can be viewed online, something to remember during our relentlessly gray November days.
The virtual tours are narrated by Manistee native Toni Trucks, a former entertainer at the Ramsdell Theatre and present-day actor starring in “Seal Team” and “Twilight Breaking Dawn.” I watch several of them and decide to visit some of the sites. It all seems promising, but there is one problem: the video tours are missing the addresses of the places they describe so brilliantly. This forces me to spend more time indoors looking at Google maps instead of under the blue sky. Site addresses can be found, however, in the eight historic walking tours listed beneath the videos on the website.
I live north of Manistee, in Benzie County, but I know that River Street runs along the south side of the Manistee River and, as you head south up the hill, the street names are First Street, Second Street, etc. So, I begin at 425 River Street, at the Manistee Historical Museum. On a busy August day, finding a parking space here is easier than closer to U.S. Highway 31. The museum is housed in an older structure known as the A. H. Lyman building, named for a drug company that by 1890 was the largest north of Grand Rapids. A section of the building was used to produce schoolbooks until 1957, and in 1960 the building was given to the museum.
Unfortunately, the museum is not open today, but through the window I see artifacts filling the shelves, lining the walls and occupying the floor. I’ve found Executive Director Mark Fedder enormously helpful to anyone with questions about historical Manistee.
From here, I walk back toward U.S. 31 to the Vogue Theatre, 383 River Street, which is open in August and early September for previously released, limited movie engagements … but not today. (As this paper went to press, Tuesday Evening Port City Documentaries, Wednesday Morning Classics and Saturday Matinees were on hold.) The Vogue also offers virtual showings of independent movies online.
The theater, built with an Art Deco motif, opened its doors in 1938 and was owned by the Butterfield Theatre group. In 1985, it was remodeled to include two screens, presenting separate and sometimes simultaneous screenings. Then, in 2013, it reopened as the nonprofit Historic Vogue Theatre of Manistee. I miss going to first-run movies and hope to be able to return to the Vogue soon.
I decide to leave the downtown area, so I drive west on River Street toward Lake Michigan and turn south on Cherry Road. I can smell the lake from here. I’m at the Manistee Golf and Country Club, 500 Cherry Road, built on 80 acres in 1901. The clubhouse has indoor-outdoor dining and convenient locker rooms. A nine-hole course was built in 1910 and was expanded in 1931 to an 18-hole course. There’s a nice breeze blowing and a bench on the fairway beckons, but I’m not a golfer and I’m watching the clock.
I drive back along First Street to the Ramsdell Theatre, 101 Maple Street. Attorney Thomas Jefferson Ramsdell conceived of a theatre that would be every bit as refined as any opera or vaudeville theatre of the time. It opened in 1902 and is still a magnificent edifice today, with a ballroom, gallery and rows of balcony seating in the theater. Ramsdell’s son, Fred Winthrop Ramsdell, painted the entrance with scenes of Venus riding a chariot through the heavens. In 1953, a young man began work at the Ramsdell as a carpenter but soon became an actor in Shakespeare’s Othello. He was none other than James Earl Jones, the famous Hollywood actor. (Read “Family Tree Bears Fruit,” Freshwater Reporter, July 22, 2020.)
My next stop is 410 Second Street, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. It is the oldest building regularly used by a Manistee congregation today. In 1888 the cornerstone was laid for an English-Norman country church built of hand-cut stone. It was plagued by fires in 1909 and 1929 but was rebuilt each time. The bright-red front door is a beacon in summer when mature trees shade the building’s entrance.
Heading south, I reach the Simeon Babcock House at 420 Third Street. Babcock was one of many lumbermen who made their fortune in Manistee in the 1880s. His home, built in 1881, includes a first-floor hall, parlor, living room and dining room. Babcock was a carpenter and built the impressive 10-foot doors himself.
Leaving the city, I drive north on U.S. 31 to Lakeshore Road and follow this route to Orchard Beach State Park, 2064 Lakeshore Road. It was built originally as model farm with 60 cattle and an orchard, but in 1921 it became a state park and the city streetcar line was extended there. Now it has 166 camping sites, an historic pavilion slated to be relocated from an eroding bluff, and a beautiful view of Lake Michigan’s blue waters.
Next, I return to U.S. 31 and head northeast to Nine Mile Road and east to Kaleva. I follow the village signs and turn down Kauko Street to the Bottle House Museum. Kaleva was built by Finnish people and had a well-known Finnish Publishing House. The village also had a pop bottling plant, and multi-colored bottles from the plant were used to build the Bottle House. The original owner died before the house was completed, so the now-famous landmark was given to the Kaleva Historical Society. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
On another day – when the leaves are at their height of color – I will return to see more sights on another of Manistee’s fascinating historical tours.
