The End of the Road in Michigan

The End of the Road in Michigan

This audio collection of amazing short stories is taken from the Great Lakes region and the Tip of Michigan’s Thumb. We love Michigan's history, places to see, and things to do in Michigan. Each episode is taken from feature articles from Thumbwind.com and Michigan4you.com. So, as a podcast, you can enjoy them anytime and anywhere. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this week’s tale from the End of the Road in Michigan. Thank you for taking the time to listen to check out and listen to our little podcast. If you like this kind of tale, you are invited to subscribe. Search for The End Of The Road In Michigan from wherever you're listening. Please watch for and download next week’s episode and take a moment to give us a review. We cover #Michigan, #MichiganThumb, #PureMichigan #Thumbwind #Caseville, #PortAustin, #BadAxe, #GrindstoneCity, #HarborBeach, #Kindie, #Elkton, #BayPort, #Sebewaing, #Verona, #Pigeon and #PortHope

Episodes

August 18, 2025 7 mins
On September 8, 1860, the sidewheel steamer Lady Elgin collided with the schooner Augusta off Winnetka, Illinois, sending more than 300 passengers into the frigid waters of Lake Michigan. While the disaster became one of the deadliest shipwrecks in Great Lakes history, much of the blame focused on the Augusta.

Branded reckless, cursed, and unlucky, the schooner soon earned a reputation as a pariah of the inland seas.

This episode of ...
Mark as Played
The Bear Man of Harrison, Michigan

In the 1930s and 1940s, motorists driving through Harrison, Michigan, often stopped at a roadside attraction unlike any other: Spikehorn Meyers’ Bear Den. Here, an eccentric old woodsman dressed in buckskin invited families to feed, pet, and even shake hands with live black bears. For nearly three decades, John “Spikehorn” Meyer turned his rustic camp into a legendary stop along US-27.

Visitors gas...
Mark as Played
In this episode of End of the Road in Michigan, we journey to Beaver Island — the largest island in Lake Michigan and the only place in America that once had a king. From 1848 to 1856, James Jesse Strang ruled here as a self-proclaimed monarch, building roads, homes, and a newspaper before his dramatic assassination at the St. James docks.

We explore the Irish fishing community that reclaimed the island, the rise and fall of its Gre...
Mark as Played
In the early 1900s, Hancock’s Quincy Mine—nicknamed Old Reliable—was one of America’s most productive copper mines. It reached over a mile underground, ran the world’s largest steam hoist, and fueled Michigan’s Copper Country economy for decades.

But the work was grueling, the hours long, and tensions boiled over in the 1913 strike—culminating in the Italian Hall disaster, one of the darkest days in Michigan’s labor history.

In this ...
Mark as Played
In this episode of End of the Road in Michigan, we take you back to the early 1900s, when Saugatuck transformed from a quiet lumber town into a vibrant summer retreat for Chicago’s city dwellers. You’ll hear how steamships, interurban trains, and hand-cranked ferries brought thousands to this lakeshore village.

We revisit the days of the Big Pavilion, where electric lights lit up the harbor and music echoed across the water, and fol...
Mark as Played
This episode traces North Adams, a Hillsdale County village that grew up along the rails and wired itself for the future. We open with the town’s most retold story—blacksmith Henry Taylor, a former slave who became a respected tradesman and was said to carry his anvil and once walk off with a potbelly stove. From there, we move down Main Street to Maccabee Hall, Barden’s Hotel, and C. J. Knapp’s store, then over to the 1912 Municip...
Mark as Played
At the far eastern tip of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula lies De Tour Village, where the St. Marys River meets Lake Huron. In this episode of End of the Road in Michigan, we trace De Tour’s history from its earliest Native American encampments and French voyageurs to the bustling lumber era of the late 1800s.

We revisit the days when the harbor was crowded with freighters, the winters when ships froze in place, and the arrival of summer...
Mark as Played
The History of Tower, Michigan (1900–1950) 


In this episode of End of the Road in Michigan, we travel to Cheboygan County to tell the story of Tower, a northern Michigan village built on timber and the railroad. At the turn of the 20th century, Tower was a booming lumber town — home to busy sawmills, the Stratton Handle Factory, and a thriving Main Street lined with shops, hotels, and saloons.

But Tower’s fortunes changed quickly. In...
Mark as Played
On September 5, 1881, Michigan’s Thumb was engulfed by one of the deadliest forest fires in state history. In this gripping episode of The End of the Road in Michigan, we recount the devastating story of the 1881 Parisville Fire, which destroyed 446 buildings and claimed 22 lives in a single afternoon.

Through vivid storytelling and eyewitness accounts, we explore how this small Polish immigrant community faced total destruction—and...
Mark as Played
Before the freeways, before commercial flights, lake steamers were the gateway to the Midwest.

In this episode of End of the Road in Michigan, we chart the rise and fall of the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company—one of the Great Lakes' most iconic passenger lines. From grand vessels like the City of Detroit III and Greater Detroit, to the six-day cruises connecting Detroit, Cleveland, and Put-in-Bay, the D&C Line helped ...
Mark as Played
In 1911, the tiny farming town of Tyre, Michigan, was rocked by a string of mysterious deaths in the Sparling family. Over the course of two years, four men from the same household died of sudden, agonizing illnesses. At first, it seemed like a tragedy. Then suspicion. And finally, murder.

In this episode, we unravel the haunting story of “The Dying Sparlings”—a tale of poison, scandal, and a courtroom drama that captured the attent...
Mark as Played
In January 1911, two young brothers vanished into the frozen waters of Lake Huron. What followed was one of the most daring rescue efforts in Great Lakes history.

With ice closing in and time running out, a life-saving crew from Harbor Beach set out on a 40-mile journey by sleigh to bring them home. This episode of End of the Road in Michigan tells the true story of grit, community, and survival during one of Michigan’s coldest wint...
Mark as Played
Pontiac’s War: Fire on the Frontier, Peace in the Shadows

In 1763, as British flags replaced French ones across the Great Lakes, the First Peoples of Michigan faced a new empire—one that dismissed their diplomacy, severed their trade, and threatened their way of life. Led by Odawa war chief Pontiac and inspired by the spiritual teachings of Neolin, tribes from across the region united in a massive resistance campaign.

This episode tr...
Mark as Played
Beneath the waters of Lake Huron lies one of the oldest known hunting grounds in North America. In this episode of End of the Road in Michigan, we explore the discovery of the Alpena-Amberley Ridge—a submerged prehistoric land bridge once used by Ice Age hunters to track caribou.

Archaeologists uncovered stone structures over 9,000 years old, reshaping our understanding of ancient life in the Great Lakes. We also examine the Indigen...
Mark as Played
The Sinking of the Lady Elgin – Milwaukee’s Night of Mourning

In this emotional 10-minute episode of End of the Road in Michigan, we recount the 1860 wreck of the Lady Elgin—a luxury steamer torn apart in a midnight collision that killed nearly 300 people. Through survivor accounts, newspaper reports, and haunting details, this story explores how an entire city mourned, how bravery shone in the darkness, and why the disaster still ...
Mark as Played
What do you do when your town dies? If you're William Carter and William McCoy in 1880s Michigan, you move your hotel — building and all — to where the action is. In this episode of End of the Road in Michigan, we trace the 140-year life of a single building that started in Port Crescent, found new life in Kinde, and reinvented itself as the Grand Central Hotel, Clancy’s, and finally the Wagon Wheel Inn. It’s a story of sawdust, ra...
Mark as Played
In this episode of End of the Road in Michigan, we uncover the remarkable 1838 journey of 15-year-old Edward Petit, the first European child born in Port Huron. 

As a teenage fur trader fluent in Ojibwe, Petit set out to locate a lost winter camp led by the elusive Chief O-ta-was. Braving freezing rain, hunger, and vast wilderness along the shores of Saginaw Bay, he completed one of the most successful trades in Michigan's early fro...
Mark as Played
Step aboard the grand steamers that once ruled the Great Lakes. In this episode, we trace the story of the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company — from its 19th-century founding to its peak as a fleet of luxurious passenger ships and, finally, to its quiet demise in the postwar era.

You’ll hear about moonlit voyages, the majestic City of Detroit III, legendary designer Frank E. Kirby, wartime conversions, and the final season m...
Mark as Played
Explore the rise, golden era, and trials of Bay Port, Michigan’s Gillingham Fish Company – once the world’s largest freshwater fishery – in this documentary-style narrative.

Discover how this Saginaw Bay fishing empire expanded to Charity Island, endured a devastating fire and economic decline, and lives on today through the Bay Port Fish Company.

We also examine modern threats to this 140-year fishing legacy, from climate change to ...
Mark as Played
Explore Michigan’s shipbuilding legacy from 19th-century schooners to Great Lakes freighters. Learn how towns like St. Clair and Port Huron became shipbuilding hubs in “Schooners and Steam” on The End of the Road in Michigan podcast.
Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

    Stuff You Should Know

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    The Joe Rogan Experience

    The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

    True Crime Tonight

    If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.