The Bicentennial Barn turns 50

Posted on by farlane
Leelanau Bicentennial Barn, south & east sides, taken 1976 by Jim

Leelanau Bicentennial Barn, south & east sides, taken 1976 by Jim

I grew up on the Leelanau Peninsula, and one thing that looms especially large in my memories of America’s Bicentennial celebration in 1976 is the Bicentennial Barn on M-22. A Glen Arbor Sun article on the Bicentennial Barn says (in part):

A press release sent to news media in 1975 by Noble D. Travis, Chairman of the Leelanau County Bicentennial Commission, explained the original project: “The Commissioners enthusiastically endorsed the presentation of “Shalda Barn ‘76” (which is the painting of a full-size barn with heroic murals) by Arlen and Sally Ramsay of The Leland Gallery.

The Ramsays’ proposal had six specific points that contributed to its endorsement. First, it involved many people from all parts of the County. Second, it would be a lasting patriotic landmark. Third, it would be supported at little or no cost to the Commission by people who will share their resources with us. Fourth, the real benefactors would be the young people who actually make it happen. Fifth, it has the earmarks of being one of the state’s most outstanding tributes to our forefathers and the ideals of most Americans. Sixth, the condition of the barn and its location, on M-22 at County Road 669 in Cleveland Township, were perfect.” With the approval of then-owner Mrs. Lewis Shalda, a huge community effort followed, but the project was carried out primarily by teams of art students from each of the county’s public schools under the direction of their art teachers.

Mr. Ramsay’s original design featured “two wind-blown flags, a historical map of the County, a portrait of George Washington; the south end of the barn shows the pioneer spirit of sharing the historic bounty of “The Little Finger,” and the today spirit of winter’s fun and summers blessing. He has integrated the silo into the design by painting it as a clump of trees, some with maple syrup buckets, and others with burnished red leaves that camouflage the red silo roof.”

Although the paint on the barn faded over the years, new owners of the barn were able to repaint the barn which was named the Barn of the Year for 2026 by the Michigan Barn Preservation Network (photo below): “This gambrel roof, timber-framed bank barn measures 30’ x 45’ with two massive 12’ sliding doors on both the front and back. For the past 50 years, this iconic barn has been known as the “Bicentennial Barn” with murals painted on it in 1976 to celebrate the nation’s 200th birthday.“

Jim took these photos way back in 1976. See more in his excellent M-22 gallery on Flickr.

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Fountain of Fire (OR “How you know it’s hot according to the National Park Service)

Posted on by farlane
Fountain of Fire by Snappd by Sean

Fountain of Fire by Snappd by Sean

I was 100% gonna save this smokin hot photo of Dodge Fountain on Detroit’s Hart Plaza for a post when the Pistons kick off next season, but when Sean shared this hilarious tweet from the National Park Service I knew it was time.

You know it's hot when you go outside and it's hot. -National Park Service

You do indeed know it’s hot simply by walking out the door. With the brutal conditions expected to last into the weekend, please take care of yourself & everyone in your life, especially children & pets who don’t understand the risks!

Snappd by Sean Photography is one of my favorite Facebook follows, mixing humorous & thought provoking content with dynamite photography. Check him out @snappd_by_seann on Instagram too!

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Waterfall Wednesday: Big Falls

Posted on by farlane
Big Falls near Skanee by Michigan Nut Photography

Big Falls near Skanee by Michigan Nut Photography

With 225 Michigan waterfall posts – well, 226 now – it’s not often that I come across a waterfall that I’ve never shared on Michigan in Pictures. Our friends at Go Waterfalling share that Big Falls:

…is a remote waterfall located between Skanee and Big Bay. The falls are in Baraga County. There are no paved roads penetrating this area, and reaching this falls requires you to ford a river. Big Falls is not very high, but it is large and impressive.

The falls is located off of a rough dirt road that heads east from Black Creek Road. The “road” (it seems to be primarily used as an ATV trail) is about 1.9 miles south of Skanee Road. This road fords both forks of the Huron River. The “road” that leads to Big Falls is roughly half way in between the two forks, and is the best defined of the “roads” that heads south. There is no way a car is going to make it to this falls. I used a bike.

The trail passes high above the falls. The falls is visible from the trail, but the view is blocked by trees. Reaching the base of the falls requires a steep climb down into the gorge.

John shared this way back in 2017, and it sounds like he concurs with the degree of difficulty getting there. He wrote “It was quite an adventure getting to this waterfall in Baraga County, MI.. Two attempts and a river fording.. We thought we had seen most of the Upper Michigan waterfalls over the years but boy were we wrong.”

Follow Michigan Nut Photography on Facebook for his latest and for sure check out more great shots in the Waterfalls Gallery on his website!

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Talkin ’bout a heatwave (again)

Posted on by farlane
Sunset at the Beach by charles hildebrandt

Sunset at the Beach by charles hildebrandt

I shared this photo 6 years ago today on June 30, 2020 along with a West Michigan Fox-17 report that the longest heatwave in West Michigan history was on the way. mLive’s Mark Torregrossa shares that although this year’s heatwave won’t be particularly long, it also won’t be particularly comfortable:

Michigan is under an extreme heat warning for the south and southwest regions, with an extreme heat watch for the east side of the state. Heat indexes are expected to reach 105 degrees, which is significant for Michigan’s climate despite being relatively common in southern states like Texas. An afternoon above 90 degrees is considered hot for Michigan in the middle of summer, and residents should take this heat seriously, regardless of comparisons to warmer climates. The warnings use a sliding scale based on what populations are accustomed to experiencing.

The hottest days of this heat wave will be Wednesday and Thursday, with temperatures reaching 90 to 95 degrees across most of the state. In the southeast, particularly in paved areas with lots of concrete and asphalt, temperatures may approach 100 degrees. This would be the first 100-degree reading in southeast Michigan since 2012, making it a 14-year gap. Tuesday through Thursday will see the state fully under the “hot dome,” with even northern areas like Traverse City reaching near 90 degrees. The capped atmosphere will be too hot to produce many thunderstorms during the peak heat.

I shared this photo that Charles took on Ottawa Beach in Holland with the 2020 post – felt perfect to bring it back. Check out his latest on his Flickr & stay cool everyone!

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Lincoln Street Art Park is Making Art Work

Posted on by farlane
Murals at Lincoln Street Art Park y Andrew McFarlane

Murals at Lincoln Street Art Park by Andrew McFarlane

The whole idea behind Michigan in Pictures is to share to work of other photographers to help people see the state that I love from every angle, but on my birthday I like to share my own photos.

Since today is my birthday, I’m going to take the time to introduce you to something near & dear to my heart, the Lincoln Street Art Park in Detroit & Make Art Work, the nonprofit that seeks to preserve & enhance this incredible place. Instead of listing all the ways tmy spirit has been fed & connected by this wildly unique blend of art & community, I’ll let Maryam Moss of the Oakland Post explain how Lincoln Street Art Park has turned trash to treasure:

Lincoln St. Art Park, on 5929 Lincoln St. near the Northwest Goldberg neighborhood in Detroit, was opened to the public in 2011 by Matthew Naimi, also founder of Recycle Here!, a recycling center adjacent to the park. 

The vision for the park was born out of a community cleanup effort to transform an industrial lot, once the site of an auto plant managed by Warren Motor Car Co., and, later, Ford Motor Co. The center, described by Naimi as “Detroit’s destination for recycling for 15 years,” encourages a public participation in patronizing and creating sustainable art, after the “take something, leave another behind” ideology of the Little Free Libraries found across U.S. communities. 

…The park features mounted mural art, graffitied sections of brick and sculpture installations as part of an outdoor walk-through gallery where bright swaths of paint contrast against the rugged brick interior and uneven lawn. 

Learn how you can help protect it through Make Art Work’s campaign to raise money for Lincoln Street Art Park!

PS: The murals in the top photo were painted by (left to right) Zach Curtis, Ghostbeard, and FEL300FT.

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Grand Haven Lighthouse now open for tours!

Posted on by farlane
Across the Lake by Gary Syrba

Across the Lake by Gary Syrba

WOOD-TV shares that the Grand Haven Lighthouse is now open to the public for tours:

After many years of restoration work, the iconic 151-year-old lighthouse that sits at the end of the pier in Grand Haven opened to visitors Tuesday. Crowds passed through to get a look inside what’s known as the foghouse, which was abandoned and boarded up for years.

“I think it’s fabulous. I have volunteered in them before so I’m a big fan of lighthouses and I think it’s fun for people to have the opportunity to see what it was like then,” said visitor Jo Harding, who made the trip from Lansing to take a peek inside. “Too much of America, we tear things down. We don’t preserve them and I think it’s really nice and we actually preserve part of our history,” Harding said.

Amen to that Jo & good on the Grand Haven Lighthouse Conservancy & their donors for returning this historic beacon to the public! The lighthouse will be open (weather permitting) from 10am – 5pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays & Sundays.

Gary took this photo a decade ago so you’ll probably want to visit Grand Haven to compare ;) For sure head over to Gary Syrba Photography to view & purchase his work including some tasty shots of Grand Haven!

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Michigan data centers coming at a “surreal” pace

Posted on by farlane
Data Base by Terry Johnston

Data Base by Terry Johnston

I’ve been wanting to share The Gander’s Michigan Data Center Tracker (embedded below) for a while now. It documents how despite organized opposition in several dozen communities, more than 30 AI-related projects have been slated for Michigan since 2024.

Last week mLive editor John Hiner published an engaging editorial in which he observed that datacenters are coming at a surreal pace & Michigan policy makers need to catch up fast. It says in part:

The numbers alone boggle the mind. The project, dubbed “The Barn,” sits on roughly 1,000 acres. It will include about 1.7 million square feet of enclosed space for computers – the equivalent of 11 Costco warehouses under one roof. It’s expected to require 1.4 gigawatts of electricity – enough to power 1 million homes.

Residents in Saline Township, Lyon Township, Van Buren Township and elsewhere have raised concerns about electricity demand, water use, land use and quality of life. National polling suggests roughly seven in 10 Americans do not want to live near a data center. Some opposition is rooted in the specifics of individual projects. Some reflects a broader unease about artificial intelligence itself – what it may mean for jobs, creativity and society.

(mLive MLive investigative reporter Lucas) Smolcic Larson believes those concerns deserve to be taken seriously. But he also sees something larger at work: “A sort of power and information imbalance … where you’ve got a tiny community up against Google, which is one of the largest companies in the world.”

The debate is often framed as being for data centers or against them. That’s too simplistic. They are rapidly becoming essential infrastructure for a digital economy running on cloud computing and AI. The more important question is whether Michigan has built a public conversation – and a regulatory framework – that can keep up with the speed of development, while addressing that imbalance between mega-corporations and ordinary citizens.

It’s clear after watching Gov. Whitmer stand shoulder to shoulder with Sam Altman as they cut the ribbon on the controversial Barn project as she said “We’re used to people saying ‘f— no,’ and then doing it anyway” that Michigan has not come close to creating anything approaching public dialog beyond “We don’t want to lose data centers to Ohio.”

It’s been a while since I’ve featured a photo from Terry aka powerbooktrance. I hope he’s doing well! See more in his Reflective Windows gallery on Flickr.

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Diamond in the rough: Detroit’s Book Tower

Posted on by farlane
The Book by C S

The Book by C S

Michigan in Pictures is hosted at WordPress.com. They are beginning to phase out posts written in their old format, so I am going to be re-sharing some so they don’t disappear forever. I always loved this photo that I shared 17 years ago today in 2009. I love the building too, and although it was one of many abandoned skyscrapers in downtown Detroit, it (like much of downtown) has returned to its former glory as one of the city’s most stunning buildings.

In a typically excellent article, Historic Detroit’s Dan Austin says (in part) of Book Tower:

She’s one of a kind. Some might even say beautiful in its ugliness. But regardless how you feel about its exterior, no one can deny that a seven-year, $300 million renovation has polished the Book Tower and Book Building into an absolute gem in the city’s skyline.

No skyscraper in Detroit, let alone the Midwest, looks quite like the Book Tower on Washington Boulevard. It’s a rather awkward-looking building, whether you look at its unusual maze of an external fire escape or the intricate, over-the-top details on its crown that are tough to appreciate without a pair of binoculars. It’s an undeniably unique piece of the city’s skyline and a rare breed of classical Renaissance-style architecture and skyscraper. As an added bonus, joined at its hip is one of the city’s oldest surviving office buildings.

…Starting in 1916, J. Burgess Book Jr. and his brothers embarked on trying to turn the rundown and ragged Washington Boulevard into an upscale and fashionable destination, similar to Fifth Avenue in New York. The first major building they had constructed was the Book Building, a rather simple 13-story Italian Renaissance office building that opened in 1917. The stately stone-faced structure, like most of the buildings on the boulevard, was designed by Louis Kamper, the Books’ architect of choice. While the Book brothers were the men behind Washington Boulevard, Kamper was the man who would build it.

While distinguished, the Book Building was hardly the architectural conversation starter or hint of what was to come. It was Kamper’s first major commercial design. The ground floor spaces were for shops; the floors above were for office space. Along the Washington Boulevard side, the Book Building has 12 sculptures of nude women, known as caryatids, which seem to be holding up the building’s cornice. Back in the 1970s, the priests across the street at St. Aloysius Catholic Church used to call them the wives of the 12 Apostles. The building’s U-shaped design allowed for ample sunlight in more offices.

Click through for much more about the Book including some dynamite photos of interior & exterior renovations by Helmut Ziewers.

See it bigger in Christian’s About Detroit gallery

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Sir Grumpy Toad of the Order Anura

Posted on by farlane
Grumpy Toad at Milham Park by Bills Pictures

Grumpy Toad at Milham Park by Bill’s Pictures

In a post the other day I included a photo of a frog that someone had captioned as a toad. I will always use your captions when I share your photos because it’s your photo so you can call it whatever you want, but for some reason that upset a reader. For that grumpy reader, and also for all of you, here’s a little more about the difference between frogs & toads thanks to this Michigan State University article:

Frogs and toads (also collectively called anurans, referring to the tailless frogs and toads of the Order Anura) are members of the class Amphibia … Renowned Michigan Herpetologist James H. Harding describes the distinction, in general, in the following manner: Toads are warty skinned, short-legged, hopping anurans. Due to their short hind legs, toads get around by short hops or walk rather than long leaps. Toads are also commonly described as having thicker skin, possibly because they are adapted to drier conditions than frogs. Frogs are smoother-skinned, long-legged, leaping anurans.

While there are over 3,500 anuran species around the world, there are only 13 species in Michigan. They are organized into three groups:

  • True Toads: terrestrial or burrowing with relatively thick, warty skin and short legs like the Eastern American Toad pictured.
  • Treefrogs and relatives: many like the Gray Treefrog have expanded sticky toe pads that allow them to climb trees and shrubs. Others like the ubiquitous Northern Spring Peeper stick to the surface.
  • Typical or “True” Frogs: are what many consider “normal” frogs, typically with long legs, smooth skin on their backs, and low-pitched “croaking” calls like the Green Frog (often confused for a Bullfrog) and the Northern Leopard Frog.

Bill shared this photo he took yesterday in the Michigan in Pictures group on Facebook. Follow Bill’s Pictures for his latest!

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Sunrise, Sunset, Solstice

Posted on by farlane
Untitled by Etzel Noble

Lake Erie by Etzel Noble

The summer solstice happened at 4:24 am on Sunday morning, and our friends at EarthSky explain that in addition to heralding the longest days of the year, the longest sunsets of the year happen around the summer & winter solstices:

That is, it takes more seconds for the body of the sun to sink below your western horizon around the solstices, and fewer seconds around the equinoxes. It’s true whether you live in Earth’s Northern or Southern Hemisphere … At more northerly temperate latitudes, the sunset duration is greater; and at latitudes closer to the equator, the sunset duration is less. Near the Arctic Circle (65 degrees north latitude), the duration of a solstice sunset lasts about 15 minutes. At the equator (0 degrees latitude), the solstice sun takes a little over 2 minutes and 15 seconds to set. Regardless of latitude, however, the duration of sunset is always longest at or near the solstices.

As it turns out, the sunset and sunrise are a tad longer on the December solstice than they are on the June solstice. That’s because the sun is closer to Earth in December than it is in June. Therefore, the sun’s disk looms a bit larger in our sky in December, and so it takes slightly longer to set.

Read more in EarthSky & for sure subscribe to their newsletter for all kinds of understanding about what’s up there

I originally shared Etzel’s tasty sunrise photo back on June 22, 2020 a few days after he shared it. Here’s a couple more great shots, but for sure check them all out in his Chasing SunRise/Set gallery on Flickr.

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