7 Sept. 2018 Marquette, MI

We drove the coastline back to Marquette and explored this small harbor town. The downtown area is only a couple of blocks but some of the buildings date back to the mid 1800s. A massive ore loading dock dominates the harbor. The dock, built in 1939, replace smaller versions that had been in use since the 1850s to load Iron Ore onto cargo ships. It was shut down in 1971. In 1999 they tore down the railroad trestles that used to bring ore trains onto the top of the dock. The harbor has since been revitalized and is a pretty public area now. They were setting up for a beer fest on Saturday, but it only runs for 6 hours because apparently that is about how long it takes to overwhelm the small city jail with drunks. We ate lunch in a small brewery overlooking the harbor in a building that had been there since at least 1851. We learned the meaning of “Yooper” in one of the small shops. It means “Upper Peninsula”, as in a resident of Michigan’s upper peninsula. 

Ore Dock