• Sunday-What'sUP October 19 - 05:10 pm

If you're a longtime Pasty Camwatcher, you've heard us mention the 'Seney Stretch' - that long straight highway east of Munising that seems to go on forever. At the eastern portal of the Seney Stretch is Highway 77, which will take you south to Blaney Park or north to Grand Marais, ground zero for today's Shoebox Memory.

According to Grand Marais Michigan.com The Pickle Barrel House was once owned by William Donahey and his wife, Mary. Mr. Donahey was the creator of the "Teenie-Weenies" comic strip which was popular in the early part of the 20th century. At one time, this unusual structure was located in the woods outside Grand Marais and functioned as a summer cottage for the Donaheys. The small addition at the back was the kitchen, and the main "barrel" had two stories. It was eventually moved into Grand Marais and placed on the corner of the main street and H-58. Over the years it has served as an information kiosk and a gift shop. Our thanks to Pat and Glenda Kerian for the current picture of this Grand Marais landmark.

So many sights to see in Michigan's Upper Peninsula... We've been on this U.P. virtual tour for over a decade, and still haven't discovered them all. On a personal note, our own travels this month have delayed the third installment of the Fort Wilkins Pasty Cameo, which we hope to have for you next Sunday.

Have a good week :o)

I think we will be more than happy to wait for the next installment of Fort Wilkins Pasty Cameo. ;O))))

to visit family is important.

grand marais might be my favorite town in the UP.

Jeff K I make it a point never to talk about my favorite town too. I'm afraid it would get out about that little treasure of a place and it would turn touristy!!!!!!!!!1 Shhhhhhh

We love Grand Marais. We try to get up there at least once a year. Everyone up there is really nice. We like to stay at the North Shore Lodge right on the lake. They have an indoor heated pool. They also have a great Restaurant, a great menu which includes fresh lake perch.

I've been 2 Grand Marais. It's another thing that makes
Michigan's U.P. unique (along with the Keweenaw, of course).

Okay, Charlie! We'll wait. That's one of the reasons I tried to sneak back in here this morning but you have to tour. There's always so much to see and not enough time. We'll be anxious to see pictures.

I forgot to mention the Grand Sable Dunes,their really something to hike around them.

I am going to TRY to visit Grand Marais next summer. Get excited just thinking about it. Wish I could make a trip to Christmas, MI. about now. I love that little store and 'tis almost the season. They have some cute things in there.

Grand Marais is one of my favorite places in the Yoop. There's a great campground there called Woodland Park, right on the lake, it's a great place to park the Airstream for a weekend, a week, or a month. There used to be a little home based bakery there that had the worlds greatest sticky buns, sadly, it's no longer there.

My mom used to tease that the best way to raise kids was to put them in a pickle barrel until they turn 13 and when they turn 13 then you plug up the hole.

Grand Marais is my favorite town, not only in the UP, but probably on the planet! We always stay at the North Shore Lodge - for so long that I still remember it as Welker's Lodge. My favorite spot is Hurricane River - just a ways west of Devil's Logslide out H58.

Cindy, your mom must have read that the same place that I did, in Mark Twain's writings. I alway loved it. He said to then plug the bunge hole, a now rather crude connotation by our standards. But it's still a great philosify don't you think...:O>)

Can you imagine, MsKatie, if parents today even entertained a thought such as putting their children in a pickle barrel....someone would surely put us in a pumpkin shell and keep us very well......

I've often wondered if the Seney Stretch at 23.4 miles is the longest perfectly straight stretch of highway in the State of Michigan. Anyone?

Gosh, I have never been to the Grand....I had some older friends that always went there....hummmmmmmm maybe I should put it on the list for spring.....thanks for all the info Charlie.....

and thank you girls for the pickle barrel and pumpkin reminders.........%^)

Gods blessings on this rainy (better than snow)
Day.

My dad always threatened to put us boys in a barrel and when we turned 18 send the barrel off to the Army! Hadn't heard it as a specific kind of barrel, though, and he'd say "and feed 'em through the bung." Probably why I chose the Air Force, didn't want the Army and those folks that were freshly decanted from barrels!

Jim Carter's booklet "A Historical Guide to the Seney Stretch" (The Pilot Press, Marquette, 2004) is subtitled "The History of Points of Interest along Michigan's Longest Stretch of Absolutely Straight Highway" and he also says it is "probably one of the longest stretches of curveless highway east of the Mississippi." This is a great little book, detailing the history of all the little towns along the Stretch that have come and gone with the changes in the logging industry, sort of a microhistory of the UP in general. There's a nice section on the Oasis in Walsh, which my grandparents owned in the 1950s.

Hickey, Prarie, Star, Commencement, Pine, Creighton, Marsh, Ducey, Walsh, Driggs River, Holland, and Clarks Ditch - the single names are all Creeks. Been across Seney stretch a few times and finally learned the names of posted water crossings (listed from Shingleton to Seney!) Still a few more crossings before retirement. Maybe I have to learn all the water crossings from bridge to bridge?

Remember seeing a WC Fields thingy where he said all that about the pickle barrel or he may have changed it to a whiskey barrel. Even then I remember saying to my dad that I thought Mark Twain wrote that. Dad's only reply was: He Did.

I don't mind traveling the Seney Stretch. It means I'm almost to Munising. It only takes about 23.4 minutes! The only time I complained was when I was stuck behind someone pulling a very square large, white trailer with no back window. It was like staring at a white wall for that entire trip. I couldn't see to get around it safely and that was before that great new invention, the UP passing lanes!

The straight stretch I did mind was from Brampton to Gwinn through Rock. That one IS boring and may be longer!

We went through Grand Marais a few years ago and it was so foggy you couldn't even tell there was a lake out there right beside the road.

My first trip across the Sceney stretch, I fell asleep in th back seat, the best trip I ever took across the Sceney Stretch.;o)))

Does it make anyone else feel bad when we can see the Pickle Barrel House sorta falling apart? Sad, anyway.

You'll be happy to know that the Grand Marais Pickle Barrel has been fully restored by the hard working members of the Historical Society. It's beautiful both inside and out!