Can you believe it? This is the seventh post in this series and we are only just finishing day 1! Not to worry, we didn't try to pack nearly as much into the following days.
On our drive up to Copper Harbor, we passed by the town of Calumet, MI. I wasn't sure how much time we would have, so I vowed if it wasn't too late on our way back we would take a quick drive through it.
Calumet was one of largest hubs of copper mining back during the boom. The guide on our tour mentioned Calumet with a bit of disdain. Although the Quincy mine in Hancock had been around longer and was potentially more profitable, Calumet got all of the press.
These pictures really only give you a small idea of how big the downtown area of Calumet is. Comprised of a three by five block area, it is probably one of the five largest downtown districts in the UP.
Looking at satellite photos, Calumet is actually a very large community in terms of population.
Originally know as "Red Jacket", Calumet is a town that is thriving with history. As I share my pictures I am going to include some tidbits of information that I pulled from Wikipedia.
We drove past the Calumet Elementary and High School and then made our way to the downtown area. We pass the Calumet Colosseum shown above which happens to be "the world's oldest operating indoor ice arena".
We also drove past St. Paul the Apostle Church. According to the Wiki, it was founded in 1889 by Slovenian immigrant miners. The original church burned down, but this one was built out of local sandstone in 1908 at a cost of $100,000.
This used to be another one of the churches, but now it is the Calumet Art Center.
This is another old building that made me think of 
In the early 1900's there was a mine strike which caused people to start leaving the area. On Christmas Eve in 1913 striking miners were having a party in Italian Hall. Someone shouted "fire" and the ensuing stampede killed 73 people, mostly children. I didn't realize we were so close to the Italian Hall Disaster otherwise I would have grabbed some pictures of the historic site.
During World War 1, the demand for copper was on the decline so most workers moved to the Detroit area to start working in the auto plants. There still remains over 2000 miles of underground shafts under the village of Calumet.
One of the centerpieces of historic Calumet is the theater. With the copper industry booming, the town had a lot of extra money on their hands. They decided to build the theater and during the best years of the boom it hosted many famous performers.
After the mines closed it became a movie theater and then fell into a pretty sad state until 1975 when the town made a concerted effort to restore it.
Heading out of town I grabbed a closer picture of the sign on the side of one of the buildings.
I have started to become a fan of whiskey over the past couple of years and I can't help but wonder what Copper Queen must have tasted like. According to the sign it was a blended Whiskey and given the proximity to Canada, I am wondering if it was similar to that. On the other hand, there were a large number of immigrants in this part of the UP, so it could have been something closer to an Irish whiskey....
In any event, we eventually made our way back to our campsite and after a quick dinner of grilled bratwurst we spent some time around the campfire. The heat and humidity that had plagued us during the morning hours had broke and we were looking at nothing but beautiful days ahead for the rest of our time in the Keweenaw Peninsula.
Previous posts in this series can be found here
@bozz/bozzlife-the-beginning-of-a-grand-adventure
@bozz/bozzlife-traveling-the-up-part-1
@bozz/bozzlife-traveling-the-up-part-2
@bozz/bozzlife-traveling-the-up-part-3
@bozz/bozzlife-traveling-the-up-part-4
@bozz/bozzlife-traveling-the-up-part-5
@bozz/bozzlife-traveling-the-up-part-6
All pictures taken by 
