Eastmanville Farm County Park & Poor Farm Cemetery, 7851 Leonard St, Coopersville MI ~ 9/25/23

This 229 acre park was the site of the last working poor farm in Michigan and it holds the graves of at least 64 poor farm residents.

Even without the history, it's a lovely park to explore.

On our way up to the cemetery we passed these two lagoons that operated as sewage lagoons during the poor farm times.

It's a sad little cemetery but in a lovely setting.

The barn is an original structure from the poor farm.

Here's a poor farm photo from 1955.

There is a lot more historical information displayed here including a few stories of  known residents. Take a drive out and experience this piece of Michigan history for yourself.

 

Historic Bridge Park, 14930 Wattles Road, Battle Creek, MI

It's not only historic but also unique. Five metal bridges have been moved to this park after they outlived their usefulness in their original locations. They all connect to each other via short trails. But before the park even existed, Dixon's Bridge was here, serving the railroad. The stone arch bridge was built in 1892. When another set of railroad tracks was added, a concrete arch bridge was added to the stone arch.

Here are the five metal bridges.

This path took us to our second bridge.

A sculpture in the woods can be found by the Gale Road Bridge.

The Bauer Bridge bridge dead-ends in the woods, and watch out for this while you're walking.

We next came to the 20 Mile Road Bridge.

Our last bridge was our favorite but you need to climb steps to get to it.

Here's a little not-historic bridge back to the parking lot 😉

The North Country Trail passes through the park.

Located on the North Branch of the Kalamazoo River, the park is a gorgeous place.

Established in 1999, the park had to be temporarily closed in 2010 due to an Enbridge oil spill.

It's a lovely place to visit.