Historic Dundee

Last week I saw a link to an article about the Haunted Mill Museum in Dundee. I read the article and thought that would be a nice little weekend adventure to take Kat on. When we first started dating, our first weekend away was in Manistee, MI, and we discovered we both liked exploring small towns, so that has become kind of our thing. I have shown her a number of little towns around me this winter, but I had never been to downtown Dundee. I have gone to Cabelas a number of times, but that is on the outskirts right next to the freeway, so I never made it into town. 

I wouldn't tell Kat where we were going because I wanted it to be a surprise, but I did eventually tell her we were going to Dundee. I plugged in the address of the old mill into my GPS and we were off. It was only about a 30 minute drive which was really nice. We got there and mill sits next to the River Raisin where it was dammed for the mill and later for electricity generation. We entered the museum and there was a man giving an introduction to the mill to another couple, so we sat in on the rest of that. The exhibits weren't the Smithsonian, but they were actually a lot nicer than I had expected for a small town museum. 

The first floor has a large Diebold safe in one corner from the Dundee Bank, and there were other pieces of memorabilia, but it was mostly dedicated to the different phases of the dam. Originally the dam had been wood, but when Henry Ford bought the mill, he converted it to a cement dam. He also had to excavate the lower side of the dam to get the fall he needed for the generators. The previous owners had been sued by the local farmers when their fields flooded as a result of trying to raise the dam. One of the other interesting pieces on the first floor was the pictures of the graduating high school classes from Dundee High School. They had them going back to the early nineteen hundreds, and they are trying to get a copy of all of them, so it is a work in progress. It was really amazing to look at these people from over 100 years ago. The kids looked so much older than high school students today. I am sure it was the classic clothing that made them look older, but it was still pretty shocking. 

We moved to the second floor which was filled with exhibits that showed living conditions from the period. There was a kitchen, bedroom, and what looked like an office area. There was also a number of outdoor items like you would have in a shed or a barn. They even had a small lathe that I thought looked like it would work well for making pens. Kat and I really enjoyed imagining how it would be like to live in those times. We looked at a number of the pictures that were taken in a panoramic view with long groups of people. One of the pictures had people dressed in all sorts of everyday attire, and they were carrying instruments. I commented that they were probably the original Village People. 

We headed up to the third floor next where they had a Native American exhibit. As we made our way up the stairs, I pointed out a rope on the wall that was attached to a big bell the top of the stairs. Kat started pulling on the rope trying to make the bell ring "just a little", but it had a spring inside the bell that acted as a damper, and when you overcame the tension of the spring with the swing the bell would ring. In other words, you couldn't just ring it a little. All of a sudden there was a huge gong as I made it up the last few steps. I smiled as I thought how going to a museum with Kat is very similar to going to one with Forrest. 

The first exhibit on the third floor was a hand made replica of a dugout canoe with full documentation on the process. The guy who made it was a local resident, and it was really pretty cool. There were large crack in each end that must have occurred as the log dried. There was also a display of a typical home layout inside kind of a tepee. It was really kind of interesting to compare the way things were done on the second floor with technology and manufactured products with the all natural approach. Kat pointed out how cool it was that they dried our gourds and squash and cut them in a way that they could be used to eat and drink out of. We finished touring the exhibits and made our way back to the first floor where I put some cash in the donation bin and asked the docent if there were any coffee shops around. He said there was one in the triangle. Instead of a town square, Dundee has a town triangle which I really liked. 

We left the building, and headed outside. I took a number of pictures of the dam and we watched  young man catch a pike from inside the restricted area. It was pretty gray and windy day, but it wasnt too cold. I suggest we walk across the river to the triangle and get a coffee drink. We walked in back to a park first to check out where the river flowed up to the dam, then made our way over to the bridge into town. We stopped at a gazebo on the other side and I took some more pictures. As we turned to leave the gazebo, Kat suggested that we cross under the bridge and check out the river on the other side. We walked along the river and came up to a boat ramp. in the middle of the boat ramp Kat found a muscle shell that had three snail shells sitting in it. It looked like someone had left them there. She picked them up and asked me if she could keep them. For the second time that afternoon, I had the feeling I was spending the day with Forrest. I said I was okay with it, and I pointed to some stairs that would take us back to the street. Kat packed her shells in her pocket and we headed off hand in hand to find coffee.

We found what appeared to be main street that went around the triangle, and I could see the coffee shop on the opposing side. As we walked to the shop, we passed a candle, antique and soap shop. Of course we had to go in and check it out. The woman at the desk welcomed us and when she found out it was our first time there, explained that there were three floors. The third floor was estate sale items, the second floor was all candles, and the basement was antiques and soaps. I have to admit I was getting a little nervous at this point. I was already past three in the afternoon and I was afraid the coffee shop might close before we got out of this store. I didn't say anything and we proceeded upstairs. 

The third floor was as I expected, basically a big garage sale with primarily kitchen and children's items. We wondered through each isle, and Kat found a salt an pepper shaker that she said looked like spring and would be nice to have on the kitchen table. I nodded and we finished looking through the isles. As we started to head back down stairs, Kat spied some printing press plates from the 1930's hanging on the wall. They were a combination of lead on cherry and copper on cherry. One was for invoice terms and another was a ledger page. Kat really liked them and thought they would look cool on the walls at her condo, so she picked them up as well. I carried them downstairs, and we dropped them off at the cash register to hold while we made our way to the antiques in the basement. 

There were a couple cool things in the basement, but for the most part it was old junk as far as I was concerned. They had some old cameras, but even when they were new, they weren't good cameras, and the same was true of the tools that they had. Still it was fun looking through the stuff and seeing what was there.

At the back of the antique area was the soap section, and the soap lady was there getting ready to make a new batch of soap. Kat started talking to her and we got to hear about her passion for scents and how she had retired and was doing this as a labor of love. Then Kat said she had a little story to tell her. I have to say my heart dropped a little when she said that because my thoughts of getting coffee seemed to be drifting away with every minute. I love Kat, but she never tells a little story. I was thinking how we were at the last isle of antiques and I could see the back door. I really thought we were minutes away from coffee when my thoughts were dashed. Kat went through her story about a lavender farm just north of her condo where the woman had started the farm as therapy after her daughter died of a drug overdose. The soap lady listened to her story and she was really interested in getting Michigan made lavender. Kat decided to buy a gift box of soaps, and of course the woman threw in some extra samples and a nice wooden box.

We made our way upstairs and headed to the cashier to pay for the other items along with the soap. The printing plates were pretty heavy, so I carried them, and Kat carried the other bag, and we headed out the door to get coffee. We got to the coffee shop and they were still open, so I was really happy. I ordered my traditional mocha with extra shots of espresso and Kat got a coffee mudslide frozen drink. Both were really good, and we sat and enjoyed our coffee talking about the town and our day together. 

After leaving the coffee shop, we headed back over the bridge to our car. I took a few more pictures because the sun had come out a little, but very quickly it drifted behind the clouds again. We got to the car and loaded up the printing plates, soap, and little chick salt and pepper shakers. It was a small adventure, but we had a really nice time, and now we have another place to visit when it gets warmer.