Photos bring back a neighborhood youngsters can only imagine
Trending
This is a photo from around the 1970s taken of an automobile on the street in Old Town Negaunee. (Photo courtesy Virginia Paulson)
You might think that you are in an undeveloped area of the city. That is until you see paved streets and sidewalks and stairs that lead to a place where a house once stood.
By 1965, the homes, about 200 of them that once were bustling with activity, are now moved to another part of the city or have been demolished.
My granddaughter Jennifer lives in the Lower Peninsula community of Holly, and this is a story that she wrote after her first visit to Old Town several years ago:
"When I was visiting my family in Negaunee, as I have done so many summers of my life, I was shown a part of Negaunee that I may have heard reference to in the past but never knew exactly what it was.
"My Aunt Connie was the first to show me Old Town, and I was instantly captivated. Over the next few days of my visit, various family members and I made several trips back to Old Town, looking at some of the things we had seen before, but also finding new things to look at.
"Of course, I took a lot of pictures and still enjoy looking back at them and narrating each one to family and friends. As we walked through, my grandmother told me lots of stories about people she knew who lived there, and stories that other people have told her about their memories.
"While walking through the site of the Jackson Mine Company, we saw what looked like old equipment, rusted from years of weather exposure, but it was there to provide a glimpse of what once stood at that spot.
"On top of the equipment was a pair of old boots, also showing signs of weather, but sitting there as if someone had just kicked them off after a day's work. These boots were one of my favorite things about Old Town, because as I stared at them, my imagination ran wild.
"I wondered who wore them. I wondered if they had been worn deep into the nearby tunnels. I wondered why they had been left there when all the buildings were gone and fences were put up. Who knew that a pair of dirty old boots could spark so many questions?
"I loved every part of Old Town and hearing about what it once was. But my most treasured memory involves a set of concrete steps. As my aunt drove me through Old Town for the first time, she brought up my cousin's recent graduation pictures, specifically the ones where my cousin is sitting on steps with a lot of overgrown trees all around them. I had seen the picture, but never knew the story until this day.
"It is thought that the steps in the picture are the same steps that were in the background of a picture of my grandfather's car that was taken roughly 50 years ago. I had seen the picture of the car many times over the years, and as we looked at the steps, now cracked and chipped, I recalled in my mind the picture of the car sitting in front of those steps, looking pristine and cared for in the black-and-white photo.
"Turns out, my grandfather's parents, who I never met, lived across the street from the steps. After hearing the story, I stood in the middle of Snow Street and pictured my dear grandpa, looking much younger than how I remembered him, proudly showing off his new car, perhaps standing in the same spot I now stood.
"I love imagining that scene that I wasn't alive for, but still know about. It tells one of the countless stories and memories that exist in Old Town, and I hope will be passed on for years to come.
"I asked many questions about Old Town, people, businesses that once were there. I couldn't imagine being one of the families whose homes were picked up and moved or lost instead."
Old Town is quiet and calm now, but it speaks volumes. Jennifer has a daughter that is just as much in love with Old Town as her mother was. Madeleine is a middle schooler and when she visits in the summer, she makes several trips to Old Town. Madeleine wanted a winter experience so she visited this past winter to fulfill that dream.
This is what Madeleine wrote:
"Old Town in the snow would be so cool, a white snow blanketed deep with history. The steps that lead to nowhere, all covered in icy white crystals. The remains of the school hidden by whiteness.
"I wonder what Old Town was like in the winter, was it snowy with lots of activity, or was it dulled down in the winter? And what was Christmas like? What did the children ask for?
"If I could go back in the winter, I would."
When Madeleine visited last winter, she wished she had taken a shovel to Old Town to shovel the steps.
Virginia Paulson has been a trustee with the Negaunee Historical Society for more than two decades, previously having been on the Negaunee Public Schools board of education for 23 years and MARESA board for 17 years.