On the last full day of our trip we went to Fayette Historic State Park. It's an old iron smelting town on a harbor surrounded by cliffs.
These are the furnaces they used to melt the iron. It must have been a hot and horrible place to work. A lot of the workers were Irish immigrants and lived in poverty in little cabins that are gone now.
I took this picture off of the Michigan DNR website because it shows how beautiful the area is.
After Fayette we went to Palm Book State Park to see the Big Spring or Kitch-iti-kipi as the Native Americans called it.
I took this aerial view picture from the internet. The water is blue-green and you can see how crystal clear it is!
You can take a raft across the spring that's manually powered by a rope pully system. Here's Rich manning the ship! There is an open viewing area in the middle of the raft so you can look down to the bottom of the spring,
The spring is about 40 feet deep and you can see clear to the bottom. Large trout are swimming all over. It's a little hard to see in the bottom picture but the circular areas a little below center are the areas where the water is coming into the spring. You can't tell from this picture but the mound of sand where the water is coming up is about 10 feet high!
I tried to upload a video for you of the water coming up in the spring but blogger wouldn't let me! Too bad because it's pretty cool looking!
I could have watched it all day!
Next time: Waterfalls!
Until then stay safe and well my friends!
Wow beautiful. Thanks for sharing and the many smiles. Have a lovely weekend.
ReplyDeleteFantastic photos and the spring is absolutely gorgeous! Have a great weekend Jeanette. :)
ReplyDeleteSprings are amazing things! Especially those which come out of the ground, with force.
ReplyDeleteOur area is "chock-full" of natural springs.
Lovey that you could get away.
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WOW the natural beauty in Michigan is astounding. I had a good friend years ago (she is gone now) who hailed from Rochester and she was always telling me about the beauty of Michigan's lakes. I would love to take this same trip that you have told us about! I am part Irish and I'd like to pay my respects where they labored, a terrible situation and conditions about which you don't hear them whining and complaining today. Happy Weekend, Jeanette! xoxo
ReplyDeleteSuch gorgeous water. I’m looking forward to the waterfalls!
ReplyDeleteJeanette, this is a REAL treat.... traveling with you on your vacation. Thank you so much for taking us along. Such gorgeous pictures and things you saw!! ~Andrea xoxo
ReplyDeleteBoth places look fabulous. What fun places to visit.
ReplyDeleteThe spring is stunning! And the Fayette Park is so beautiful. The cliffs remind me of the White Cliffs Of Dover.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting place to visit. It's appears you all had a fantastic vacation.
ReplyDeleteDon't take offense when I say this, but I didn't realize Michigan was so pretty! I'm not sure what I thought about it but there are lots of gorgeous places to visit like that water you showed here. I would definitely enjoy a trip out on it and looking through the glass of the water below me. Can't wait to see what the waterfalls will be :)
ReplyDeletebetty
Fayette - like stepping back in time. And the Big Spring is just so beautiful. I've never seen such clear water.
ReplyDeleteI missed a part of your trip because I stayed off blogging for a week. So glad you took these photos, they are interesting and lovely. I come from a country full of iron ore, so that sounded familiar, but I have, of course, no idea of what's going on with iron in Sweden these days.
ReplyDeleteThis is a gorgeous and historic area indeed. Can you imagine the lives of those immigrants? I know it was horrible, but I imagine what they were trying to get away from was even worse.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE seeing springs; this one is gorgeous.
Wow, I would love that place too. Thanks for sharing.
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