Last week the Pasty Cam featured that classic view of Copper Harbor from the overlook at the end of Brockway Mountain Drive (sent by Ken Austin). Pat and Margie Burke found this old postcard love-letter among their shoebox memories, from a similar point of view. On a clear day, I wonder if you really can see Grand Marais??

Love that postmark... Phoenix, Mich. 1938. The note says it all:

Not too many places on the face of the Earth where you can watch a lake-side sunset, then wake up the next morning for a sunrise over the same lake! Plus, the drive from Brockway is as good as it gets. Why haven't they fimled movies here?

Beautiful picture as always Charlie. Good to have you back. I just can hardly wait the two more days yet, to be on the road with my good friend, camara, kayak, & ready to make more good memories of the Keweenaw area.

Pasty Net is the best on the net: I love the cam notes and learn so much as I read them. Everytime I go on the site I know that I will be here for a while because of all the interesting links that I will enevidably end up looking at.

Great job all,

Today's shoebox memory makes me think back on all those postcards over the years I've sent home to mom, girlfriends and then a wife (in that order of course!) The cards are nice... and the pictures wonderful, but I guess you just have to be there to really appreciate it in all it's glory. I'll be doing them all in just a few weeks.

Thanks for the nostalgia of my most favorite place--Copper Harbor! Weren't postcards beautiful back then?? Still hoping to make it up this fall!

Yes you can, Charlie. There used to be a small turnoff over Grand Marais for tourists at this spot(between Eagle Harbor and Lake Bailey)but was removed years ago for safety reasons because 26 is a bit rollercoastery through this section. There is a string of cottages extending into the peninsula on the upper left side of the postcard which are accessed from a private drive that exits off the road to the old Eagle Harbor Coast Guard station.

The place in the first picture is no longer seen by anyone because of the tree growth. I think it would be worthwhile if Keweenaw County cleared this area of brush and made a parking place so that all could again enjoy this great spot.

You can't see Grand Marais from Brockway. Is the picture on the front of Grand Marais harbor? Is it that similar to Copper Harbor? I've been there a few times but not lately. It must be just the cardmaker's boo boo. What did they know?
Grand Marais is too far around the corner of the Keweenaw peninsula's tip. Look on a map.

Neat card, though. It was mailed a year before I was even born. :o)

I will be up Sept. 24th and it has been a long time since I've been in the UP in the fall. When is color usually peak?

Catherine - - you will be crossing the bands of color on your way up from Holland. Somewhere along the way, you will pass through peak areas, some maybe even in the U.P. by then. If you stay a couple of weeks, you're bound to see the peak arrive in Keweenaw, too.

Going from Eagle Harbor toward Copper Harbor one passes the Grand Marias area before the start of the Mountain Drive. The card maker probably thought the Mountain Drive started in Eagle Harbor.

That post card was very popular in the late 30s. Probably every little shop in the Copper Country had it on display.

My buddies and I would often shoot our 22 rifles at ducks in the bay from the spot where that picture was taken. The ducks would dive before the bullets got there because the sound arrived before the bullet. We thought it was a very interesting phenomenon. Never did injure a duck.

That's right, Bill - - You pass Grand Marais Harbor even before Lake Bailey, and the Mountain Drive doesn't begin until you're almost to Agate Harbor. The postcard is definitely looking down into Copper Harbor, not Grand Marais, and Ken was right about this being a boo boo.

Not so fast, Toivo! I remember this scene well and I believe the postcard shot was taken exactly where it says it was taken: from the old turnoff overlooking Grand Marais(harbor) just east of Eagle Harbor. If you look closely, you'll see it looks quite different from the shot of Copper Harbor as taken from the mountain drive turnoff.

Break out the boxin' gloves, Cousin J, 'cause I'll take you to the mat on this one. You can see the area which most likely inspired the inset of the postcard. Besides, the road above Grand Marais Harbor is not high enough to get the angle of the Lake above the trees - - as it perfectly fits in the Brockway Nose/Copper Harbor shot. Also, the "Mountain Drive" does not begin until almost Agate Harbor, as the map above indicates. No way can you see Grand Marais from there!

The point of view is overlooking Grand Marais between Eagle Harbor and Agate Harbor. M-26 along that stretch is called Brockway Mountain Drive on the U.S. Geodesic Survey maps, so I suppose it was known in 1938 as Keweenaw Mountain Drive. Today, locals think of Brockway Mountain Drive only as that part actually on Brockway Mountain, rather than the USGS label which goes all the way through Eagle Harbor and up the cut-off road to U.S. 41.

I hate to pile on, Toivo, but where is the outer archipelago of reef islets in the Copper Harbor shot? Would you impugn this postcard artist's reputation by claiming he fabricated the reef or would you prefer to cry uncle? :)

Wow, had to get the dictionary out on that last one! :)

OK, this may help with the on-going feud between "Cousin Jack" and "Toivo". The following is quoted from John Dee's journal, dated, July 25th, 2002.... " Using the zoom on my camera, I was able to capture a pleasure boat leaving Grand Marais Harbor on it's way to Eagle Harbor a few miles to the west." The picture below, is the one he posted along with the entry! Hope this helps!

I also should have added a link to John Dee's website! Here it is.... www.johndee.com . If you haven't visited his site.....check it out, it's a good one, just like pasty.com!! :)

Now, I'm becoming a pest here, but I'm not sure why the link for John Dee's site didn't come up so you could just click on it to get there, so I'm going to try it again! Here goes..........
www.johndee.com

OK, now I know and I'm laughing at myself for being so dense.........try this instead!
http://www.johndee.com/

I surmise that Mary's beautiful shot was taken somewhat to the east(or right) of where the 1930's postcard artist set up his easel.

CJ
The shot was taken by JOHN DEE, from Mount Baldy/Mount Lookout, both names are used for the spot. I wish I could take credit for the beautiful shot, but alas, I cannot. :) Yes, it does look to be east of the postcard shot!

My point exactly !! The only view of Grand Marais from up high is far to the right of the post card, which claims to be Grand Marais. I am still convinced that the artist was inspired by the view from the nose of Brockway (Copper Harbor). Besides, Cousin Jack, where is your arkypellogie in John Dee's shot??

The "arky.... what Toivo said" is the top right hand piece of (is-)land. I just drove by this spot a couple weeks ago and there is one spot you can pull off the north side of M26 (aka: Brockway Mountain Drive, circa 1938) between the beaver pond and the west end of Lake Bailey , and get a view of Grand Marais similar to the Post Card. I believe if you walked along M26 and stepped up on the ridge along the road (I'm talking within 50' of the road and only a couple feet higher in elevation) and pushed a couple branches out of your way, you would get the post card perspective. A "topography" map will help line up the angles of perspective and also show the ark..#&*$.. the island at the entrance to Grand Marais.

Gee, and to think that this all started with my brother saying "I think I've got a box of old pictures somewhere around here."

If I wasn't so familiar with this spot I wouldn't be so adamant about it, Toivo. I used to walk there from Eagle Harbor. Former Yooper has it right about the western end of the little island chain(archipelago). Bill, Ca has it right as well(whose post you mistakenly misinterpreted in your favor). As he and the postcard itself says, the "mountain drive" begins in Eagle Harbor so your assumption that it has to be on the Brockway stretch beyond Silver River is wrong as well. It is quite a steep drop from M26 down to the water of Grand Marais(harbor) so I think the postcard artist is quite accurate with his or her perspective. Take a drive by there sometime and look for the old turnoff. You'll see what the artist saw if you can peek between all the trees that have grown taller since 1938.
Ready to hang up your boxing gloves on this one yet, old friend? :)