Iron Mountain, MI

July, 2024

We enjoyed learning about the iron smelting at Fayette Historic State Park so much, we decided we’d go to Iron Mountain, MI to explore an iron mine. Located very close to the Michigan-Wisconsin border, Iron Mountain is a picturesque town with some remarkable features.

With the kids new found love of pasties, we decided to hit the local pasty shop and see what we could hunt up for dinner. 🤤 Good reviews led us to The Pasty Oven and it was amazing! We bought quite a few of the Traditional with Rutabaga and decided to try a Spinach with Cheese. Since it was Friday, they also had a Fried Perch Dinner–so we bought that as well. 🐟 While we were waiting for them to cook, we took around the inside and were in awe of the stars who had been there before us! Jeff Daniels, Trace Adkins, and The Doobie Brothers to name a few. 🤩

We could have eaten in the dining area, but we decided that we would get our dinner to go. A place the locals all seemed to know about for the best water was the Norway Spring. 💧 It was just a few miles out of town, so we decided to drive there on the way to where we wanted to stop and eat. The artesian well really did have some fantastic water, so we filled our water bottles, drank them down and refilled, lol. 💦 There were quite a few other people at the well and we enjoyed meeting some more locals who were so kind and welcoming. 🥰

Loaded up with food and fresh water, we made our way to Fumee Falls. It was incredibly beautiful! 😍 We sat down to eat at a picnic table right next to the falls. Great food with a great view–fine dining at it’s best, lol. 😁

After we had our fill of food and exploring the falls, we went to the hotel. Our stay at Mountain Host Motor Inn was nice. The staff was sweet and when I inquired about the bat viewing, they were super helpful and gave me great directions. 🦇 After we got situated in our nice clean room, we rested for a bit and waited until almost dark to go to the Millie Mine Bat Viewing Site, which was coincidentally not even 5 minutes from the hotel and was on our list of places we really wanted to see. 🦇

At the Millie Mine Bat Viewing Site, it had an excellent view of the town. Looking over Iron Mountain at sunset was a wonderful experience. 🌆 We took a nice hike around the area and then settled down to watch the bats. The bat cave was an old vertical mine shaft. Unfortunately due to white nose disease, the bat population was not as plentiful as in years past, but we did manage to see some! 🦇 We had a great time watching the bats come out of the shaft. We did notice that their food supply of mosquitoes was well stocked for them, so hopefully the bat population comes back soon to take care of those pesky creatures… 🦟🦟🦟

The next morning, we took the kids to the Iron Mountain Iron Mine, which has been designated as a Historic Site. ⛏ We had to sample some of the mineral water there, and it was pretty good! (Not as good as from the Norway Spring, but still quite tasty.) 💧 The gift shop had one of the biggest selection of rocks that we had seen in quite some time. They also had some nice jewelry and iron ore that was from the mine which was available to buy. 💎💍

Once we were suited up for our tour, we followed our guide through the demonstrations on how the mine worked and the machinery they used. 👷‍♂️ The kids got to sound the whistle, which they enjoyed! Then we hopped aboard the mine car and went 2600 feet into the mine. Back in 1860, ore was discovered and it became one of the most productive mines in the state. 🔨 Over a course of 68 years, 21,625,000 tons of iron was mined. The primitive and dangerous equipment they used was shocking. We had a hard time imagining being deep in the mines with nothing but candlelight and drilling by hand. Using basically a post and hammer, they worked in pairs to mine the ore. ⚒ Gradually new equipment was invented, including the widow maker. This was a pneumatic drill used overhead to break up the ore above them. Considering they didn’t have hard hats then, the term widow maker was unfortunately accurate. 😢

After an enlightening and educational 40 minute tour, we found some treasures in the gift shop and continued on our way. 🎁 Packed down with more pasties from The Pasty Oven and water-bottles refilled with spring water, we loaded up and were on the road again! 🚗

We hope you are enjoying our travels! We’d love for you to share it with your friends, if you’d like. We added some videos on our YouTube channel to go along with the post: https://www.youtube.com/@TravelingwiththeTrapps

Thanks so much and stay tuned for more Traveling with the Trapps! 😀

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