• Sunday-What'sUP September 25 - 10:01 pm

This month we've been reminiscing about the Jacob's Falls area, including the Dow Cabins and Restaurant (now the Jampot) and the "Great Northern Motel" which disappeared as a result of a broken beaver dam. There's a final building we consider this week, one of the most unique structures in the Keweenaw.

According to Paul LaVanway's article in the current edition of Superior Signal, the Dow family had moved an old school house (top photo) about 6 miles - from Hepting Farm Road at Phoenix to the lakeside of the curve in M-26 just beyond Jacob's Falls. This served as the family cabin until 1983 when Mr. Dow sold the property to the Society of St. John. The former school house became the monastery, which began to expand in 1997 (second photo). Over the next decade the building would be transformed into the Holy Transfiguration Skete (3rd and 4th pictures).

After my son Jonathan and I had started the Pasty Cam in 1998, we had a pleasant dinner with the Monks one evening, shortly after the first phase of construction was completed. Over that meal we discussed the relatively new concept of "e-commerce", and the Jampot's website became one of the first to be hosted by Pasty Central. A couple hundred websites have followed, joining this family of U.P. enterprises that has grown over the years.

As always, thanks for stopping by our weekly Shoebox Memory, and we hope to see some of you at the annual Keweenaw County Historical Society dinner this evening at the Mountain Lodge.

Have a good week :o)

A landmark for sure!

BOY....that little schoolhouse sure got lost in there somewhere! Beautiful finish, though.

Totally awesome!! Every time I drive by that spot, I'm truly amazed at what they've done there!

Thanks!!

Totally awesome!! Every time I drive by that spot, I'm truly amazed at what they've done there!

Thanks!!

The last time Dr. Nat and I were in the Keweenaw, we attended Mass there one Sunday. For those who haven't had the opportunity to worship in this grand building, by all means do; it is an experience you won't soon forget!!!

I would love a closer view of the iconography, having 'written' a few Russian orthodox icons at the Augustine Center in Conway near my home, under the close supervision of a teacher from the Prosopon School in New York. It is an exacting process that brings one closer to the Great Creator of us all.

Thank you! Beautiful pictures and such great info!

As someone (now) out of the area - I would like to personally thank you for getting the Jampot connected with a web site! I bought one of the sample boxes of fruitcakes for my birthday party a couple years ago, and it was so great to have the web resource at my disposal! Still wish we lived closer so I could just stop in and get Jampot goods at will...

My geographic knowledge fails me. Where exactly is/was "Hepting Farm Road at Phoenix"? Or by chance is that the same as Phoenix Farm Road?

Frank - I think the road is one and the same. Somewhere along the line, as other families moved up the hill from Phoenix, where the Heptings lived, they must have stopped referring to it as Hepting Road in favor of Phoenix Farm Road (or as they say it more often locally, Phoenix Farms Road). That's where Elmo Negro lived, of Elmo's Tower fame back in the early years of the Pasty Cam.

Thanks, Charlie!

Re: Hepting Farm Road vs. Phoenix Farm Road, these roads almost one in the same, with one critical exception, to wit: When the name of the road was Hepting Farm Road, the beginning of the road---the spot where it intersected US 41-----was just west of the Phoenix General Store. In those days the road traversed a small bridge (which was located immediately to the south of Phoenix General Store)---then, after crossing that same bridge, the road angled towards the SE---where it eventually intersected (and followed) what is today's Phoenix Farm Road. What happened was that the bridge washed out one spring----KCRC then moved the entrance to the road (relocating it to where it now intersects US 41---several hundred yards to the east of the Phoenix General Store), at which time KCRC renamed the route "Phoenix Farm Road." Hope this explanation helps clarify things. Regards to all, Paul LaVanway

I have to admit I much prefer the old school - cozy, warm, inviting and non-invasive. An appropriate construction to enjoy the beautiful Lake Superior shoreline without destroying it. I'd appreciate the more grandiose current structure a lot more in a town. It is an impressive structure, just out of place. I do miss the natural (God made) view from the water prior to this over-development.

Thanks, Sconie (Sconie)!

I can almost see that on Google Maps (Satellite view), about 1/16 mi. west of the M-26 turnoff (and west of the river), where River W Road turns off US-41. There appears to be a vestige of a road there that once crossed the river to the SE, then perhaps via the Chopps Road alignment, to join Phoenix Farm Rd about 0.2 miles south of US-41.

That's what those $35 rum cakes will get you...

I attended vespers there a couple of years ago and just stopped by
the Jampot last week. The cream cheese muffins are to die for!