Linda Osborne Cynowa

Mount Vernon, Part Two

Linda’s Monday Morning Moaning’s

Back to Mount Vernon, when Robert Eldredge wrote in ‘Past and Present of Macomb County’ in 1905, that “Mount Vernon, which is situated in section 19 and 30 of Washington Township is a thriving little village community, in which has gathered a number of business houses, two churches and a blacksmith shop and several residences, it was. It also has one of the oldest post offices in the county.

Old timers indicated that for years the post office was in a corner of the General Store, and names like Tobias Hoyle 1888, Frank Rogers 1893, Orlando Pike 1894, Levern Levanseler 1900, Rudolph Reed 1903 and Frederick Norton 1904 where all proprietors of the store so it can be assumed the post office was in the store at that time. In 1905 it was decreed that the Rochester post office would now handle Mount Vernon’s mail, and the local post office was closed marking the diffident end of an era. There was a structure that started out as a home built in 1830 which became the club house for the Mount Vernon Country Club. It was designed to look like George Washingtons Mount Vernon home. While the club drew members from all around and including the Detroit area, and the grounds were kept lush all summer, after World War II it would fall on hard times. It was later bought and restored by a family later on, but now the property is within the Stoney Creek Metro Park system.

Mount Vernon has changed from the thriving, yet quite farming community it once was. The school house was destroyed and damaged beyond repair during a windstorm in 1934. The Baptist Church closed. Stores went out of business. There was no more calls for buggies, wagons or windmills. Fields that once grew crops of hay and grains are covered over with asphalt. Large new homes are being built and automobiles make the area homeowners more mobile, where they can travel miles for shopping or entertainment. Food and fun are no longer homemade.

These changes might well have begun when Mount Vernon was bypassed by the railroad. The same as with many areas near by like Clifton Mills a ways down the road. Towns that railroads passed through grew and prospered while others became only a collection of homes. Now all that remains of the past are a few “old” homes, the Methodist Church (although that has recently been sold to soon become Greek Orthodox), and the Mount Vernon Cemetery.

Memories of Mount Vernon’s glory days are fading as most of the ‘old timers” are also gone, those hard working people who knew the importance of building their village. The present and future generations need to remember the past and the people who worked hard to shape it.

Thank you to Louise M. Pohly for her work on ‘Historic Mount Vernon, 1997

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A Quick Trip for Research

Linda’s Monday Morning Moaning’

If you are researching lighthouses, the place to go is the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association, also known as ‘GLLKA’ in Mackinaw City, Michigan. For those that might not be familiar to this part of Michigan, it’s were the very tip of the mitten, connects to a five mile long bridge that open’s the door to Michigan’s Upper Peninsular. It’s just one of many beautiful places in the State of Michigan.

‘GLLKA’ is a great group of people who work very hard at keeping anything to do with the lighthouses a part of their important work. I was visiting the Association’s headquarters this past weekend for a much needed introduction to let them know of the contract to do the book for Arcadia Publishing on the Great Lakes Lights, with the hope they might be able to help with my research and quest for some vintage postcards, I am having a difficult time a acquiring.

Some years ago on a road trip to Mackinaw City with the intent of taking one of the Shepplers boat tours, we found that ‘GLLKA’ organizes these trips with Shepplers to see the different lighthouses in the Straits of Mackinac. The gentleman that was the host and speaker was Terry Pepper. His knowledge was complete when it came to these lights through out the Great Lakes.

We were offered this weekend to see his research room at ‘GLLKA’ offices and look through his files and collection. His research where he had gathered huge amount of information, pictures, article, and lots of books on all the lighthouse of the Great Lakes was to say the least overwhelming. Getting to search through his life time of work was a special treat for us to be allowed to see. With the files I am compiling, for my research, I can only hope these files can be, but small addition to his work at some point in the future.

The reason I mentioned ‘he had’ is because Mr. Pepper sadly passed away in 2019. Much to the loss of his family and friends, and a great loss to the lighthouses, shipping and navigation in general, not to speak of what he brought with his knowledge to the Association its self. His research done over many years, will be a wonderful source for the many researchers and lovers of the lighthouse lore, well into the future.

And I did manage to find a few vintage postcards, and with ‘GLLKA’s help, may be able to use them for the book. The Star Ferry Line, located right next to our hotel, had a beautiful huge fireworks display the same night, not sure what the occasion was, but could they heard about a new ‘lighthouse book’ in the works?? Ummmm, Arcadia would be pleased, building the excitement.

On that ‘wee note’ till next week.

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‘Lights of the Great Lakes’

Linda’s Monday Morning Moaning’s

Last week, I said I would be blogging the second part of the information on the Mount Vernon area, here in Washington. That will be furthered in next weeks blog instead of todays.

For the last couple of months I have been working on a new project while I was waiting for the farming book to be published in August. For many years I have had a strong attachment to the lighthouse of the area. I have on many occasions traveled to some of them just in the hope of photographing these beautiful structures that have been so important to the maritime shipping around the Great Lakes. After working on three previous books about the local area that I live in, I decided to expand my research area to cover approximately eight states in total, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, all where the shores of these states touched the Great Lakes.

I submitted my proposal to Arcadia Publishing for their ‘Postcard History Series’ and have just received a commitment and my contract to further the project.

The title ‘Lights of the Great Lakes’ is still a working title. If all goes as planed, this edition will be published in time for ‘National Lighthouse Day’ on August 7th 2022.

Although these scans are in their original color formats, Arcadia’s vintage history series are all black and white, images and postcards can be used when scanned in grey scale. Most real photo postcards (RPPC) are only produced in black and white which are the majority of vintage postcards available. This will be a look at the lighthouses, from the early days of their use, many no long exist or look nothing like their original look. So now I further the research for the ‘Lights of the Great Lakes’.

Next week, more on Mount Vernon, and on that ‘wee note’ till next week.

Mount Vernon, Washington

Linda’s Monday Morning Moaning’s

Patriotism ran strong among the early pioneering settlers to this area. They named the township and village after our first President (Washington) and a village after his Virginia estate (Mount Vernon). Since there were many of Scottish descent arriving new to the area, the name was easily approved.

The ruggedly hilly northwest corner of Macomb County was its most populated section in 1840 when the first Federal census for Michigan was conducted. The pioneer farmers and townspeople headed to the cool, well-drained hills of Washington, Shelby and Bruce Townships, avoiding the swampy flatlands for the more fertile and game abundant land. Although Mount Vernon has never been incorporated or officially organized, nor has it ever had specific boundaries, it was recognized as a village and had several business places and a United States Post Office. In Lesson’s ‘History of Macomb County, Michigan’ written in 1882, Mount Vernon is described as ‘a small post office village’ in Washington Township, Macomb County, seventeen miles northwest of Mount Clemens Court House and five miles northeast of Rochester, with two churches in the immediate area, Baptist and Methodist’.

The Mount Vernon General Store was a rather large wooden structure on the northeast corner of the main intersection. They carried a full line of groceries, yard goods, kerosene and farm supplies. Upstairs there were several rooms that were available for travelers. This store would burn down, due to a fire that started in the back the building were the kerosene was stored. A new smaller building was built, with living quarters in the back for the owners. The Fangboner Buggy Shop was also nearby during these years, a well used establishment in the community. I will travel further into Mount Vernon’s history in next weeks Monday Moaning’s.

On that ‘wee note’ til net week.

Thank you to ‘Historic Mount Vernon’ by Louise M. Pohly, 1997

911 Remembered, 20 Years Later

Linda’s Monday Morning Moaning’s

Saturday marked the twentieth time that September 11th has come round the calendar, saying anniversary usually denotes something worth celebrating this surely was not. September 11, 2001, like many other important dates that we remember in history, is a date that needs remembering by us that lived through it, and those not born at the time.

I was at Life Time Fitness, coming into the locker room to get my things and seeing on what at that time was an unusually large television screen showing what was happening at the Twin Towers in New York. I like everyone, that was soon gathering around this set, were in a saddened shock, for what we all realized was the terrible trauma that so many people in those towers surely where enduring. All I could think of was gong home and being with my family and realizing how lucky I was that I had them.

By the time of the fifth calendar year in 2006, I also had endured a loss for me of such magnitude, that my understanding and empathy was even stronger for the survivors, parents, husbands, wives and children whose lives had changed so horribly with their losses on that day.

As what was my usual response to most historical instances, I needed to know more, and over the years read many books and watched programs that would try and give me the best ability to understand and learn in some small way, WHY? I found over the years I would purchase the ‘911 Never Forget’ pins from a jeweler in Pennsylvania who was selling them at cost to help the Garden of Reflection in Shanksville as a memorial to Flight 93. They’re great work over these past twenty years has raised an enormous amount of money to help the many people effected by the 911 terror of that day and now the garden will be taken care of in perpetuity.

For the First Responders on 911 that survived the towers collapsing, but have suffered for these past twenty years from 911 with reoccurring health ailments that have plagued many of them and added to the amount of loss that was suffered that original day. These are people that gave so much thought those first days, and need the help from our government with medical, for the help they gave. Many are medically suffering greatly.

On that day, it was soon realized that clearing the sky’s of planes was paramount. Soon the United States Federal Aviation Administration, commonly known as the FAA, closed all US airspace, not knowing what might be coming in on other planes still in the air. As part of Operation Yellow Ribbon, Gander International Airport would need to divert 224 wide body airplanes that were past the ‘turn around point’ away from the US, and land them in small air ports in Canada near the eastern seaboard. They managed this in only 4 hours.

Gander, itself accepted 38 previously unscheduled planes. Most of these people, passengers and crews would be stranded there until the United States reopened airspace nearly a week later.

Gander had a population of about 10,000 people and now had 6,800 visitors. The book this comes from ‘The Day The World Came To Town, 911 in Gander Newfoundland’ by Jim Defoe, is a wonderful complete story of how the people of Gander opened up their homes and lives to help people from all over the world in a completely selfless way. After the tragedy of 911, this book brings the most heart warming story and what can bring people together at the most difficult times in their lives. If you are interested in a wonderful read, this is my suggestion, for the full story.

This week I close with a sadden heart, but with hope for our future.