a day / 48 miles / an hour 36 minutes
Pure copper! In Michigan's northern wilderness you will find the legacy of a mining boom that produced over ten billion pounds of copper that assisted a nation’s growth. Today, the story of the Copper Country is told in the historic downtowns, mine shafthouses, and through the history of the people.
Day 1
9:00 - 0 miles / 0 - 9:00
Established in 1902, the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum is devoted to mineral science education and exhibition of fine mineral specimens. The museum is world renowned for its premier collection of Lake Superior copper district minerals, especially crystallized copper, silver, calcite, and datolite. Specimens from North America and around the world compliment this collection, totaling over 26,000 with 5,500 specimens on display. The museum is a Keweenaw National Historical Park Cooperating Site.
9:00 - 3.3 miles / 6 minutes - 9:06
Keweenaw National Historical Park: Quincy Unit
The Quincy Unit is an integral component of the Keweenaw National Historical Park. This site interprets the story of the Quincy Mining Company, one of the first commercially successful copper mines in the Keweenaw. Viewing the largest steam hoist in the world and riding the cog tram to an underground mine tour are the highlights of touring the buildings and properties and will give visitors an excellent insight into the life of a miner and the industry that shaped his life.
9:06 - 0.8 miles / a minute - 9:08
Keweenaw National Historical Park
Keweenaw National Historical Park was established to commemorate the rich history of copper mining on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan - the only place in the world where commercially abundant quantities of elemental copper occurred. It has the oldest metal mining heritage in the western hemisphere -- one that dates back 7,000 years. The copper mines of the Keweenaw, from the 1840's
through the 1960's, were critical to the industrial development of the United States.
There are approximately 1900 acres within the two units of the park. Much of that area is, and will remain, in private ownership. Keweenaw National Historical Park will own only areas where it will preserve key structures and sites and conduct its interpretive activities. In addition, there are a number of Cooperating Sites scattered across a one hundred mile section of the Keweenaw Peninsula. These sites, are cooperating with the National Park Service to provide interpretive opportunities and visitor services10:08 - 7.1 miles / 14 minutes - 10:22
Keweenaw National Historical Park: Calumet Unit
The Calumet Unit of the Keweenaw National Historic Park (NHP) encompasses the core industrial area of the city of Calumet as well as downtown Calumet. A few sites to visit include: Calumet and Hecla Industrial District, Keweenaw Heritage Center at St. Anne's, Calumet Historic District (a National Historic Landmark District), Coppertown USA, Upper Peninsula Fire Fighter's Memorial Museum, Calumet Theater, and Red Jacket Historic District. The Keweenaw NHP headquarters is also located in the Calumet Unit.
14:22 - 18.6 miles / 37 minutes - 14:59
Fort Wilkins State Park and Historic Complex
Fort Wilkins was once an active U.S. Army base built to keep peace in Michigan's Copper Country. Begun in 1844 and abandoned just two years later, the fort was briefly re-garrisoned in the late 1860s. Today, Fort Wilkins is a well preserved example of mid-19th-century army life on the northern frontier. Nineteen buildings survive, twelve of them original structures from the 1840s. The park also includes the Copper Harbor Lighthouse Complex, accessible by boat.
Through Fort Wilkins' exhibits, audio/visual programs, and living history interpretation, visitors may explore the daily routine military service. Visitors can learn to experience with the soldiers' families the hardships of frontier isolation and discover the lifeways of another era.18:29 - 18.3 miles / 36 minutes - 19:06