Hotel at Fayette

Fayette State Park, at the north end of Lake Michigan, is a preserved ghost town. It was built by the Jackson Mining Company in the 1870s to run a blast furnace. Those ruins still dominate the view, though they've been improved since I first visited the place around 1980.

The townsite's a spectacular setting, and has been a tourist attraction for over a century--far longer than it was a functioning village.

Fayette was a company town, with all the structures owned by the mining company. This was the hotel/boarding house. The main reason the blown-out background has no details whatever is that Lake Michigan's close behind the hotel.

=====================================

Photo taken in 1998, I think, using a Minolta point-n-shoot.

I've heard Tom Friggens of the Michigan Historical Center insist that Fayette's never been a ghost town, as the place has always been occupied by someone. I regard that as a mere technicality.