Manistee – Victorian Port City

Manistee is 30 miles south of the Wayfarer.  I like shopping there.  River Street, the main shopping area is long and dotted with all sorts of retail shops. What am I saying, not “dotted”  but every building has at least one store in it.
One of my sister in laws owns a jewelry store there, right next to Snyder’s Shoes.  Snyders is where we buy all of our shoes.  There are a number of really cute antique stores and a whole bunch of gadget and knick-knack stores, boutiques, bars, restaurants – it’s fun to go there.

Manistee was part of the lumber boom of the late 1800s and had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the United States.  Also the tallest man in the world lived there and at Snyders, way in the back of the store, they have a life size statue of the man and they have a pair of his shoes. Size 37 I believe 😯

Parallel to River Street is the River Walk which follows the river for a few miles.  It is fun to walk it it is also great fun to just sit in that great Italian restaurant and watch people walk it 😉

I took that from Wikipedia:

“Notable people associated with Manistee

Dave Campbell, baseball player and sportscaster

Byron M. Cutcheon, Civil War veteran and winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor, Congressman, attorney, and postmaster

Fred Green, Governor of Michigan, 1927-1931

James Earl Jones, actor, first began acting at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee.

Toni Trucks actor, first appeared at the the historic Ramsdell Theatre at the age of about seven in Sweet Charity.

Edward Kozlowski, Polish-American priest, later Bishop of Milwaukee

Michael J. Malik, Sr., developer

Harry W. Musselwhite, politician and newspaper publisher

Harriet Quimby, first licensed American aviatrix was born in nearby Arcadia Township

Bernie Schroeder, radio broadcaster

Olaf Swenson fur trader, adventurer, and author

Robert Pershing Wadlow, known as the World’s Tallest Man in medical history (8 feet, 11.1 inches tall) died at the Hotel Chippewa in Manistee on 1940-07-15. Wadlow died as the result of an infected blister on his right ankle, caused by an ill-fitting leg brace.[20]  Employees of the hotel reported that two beds had to be welded together to make an area long enough for Wadlow to sleep. The Hotel was located at the west end of Water Street. It was destroyed by fire and eventually torn down. Today it is a privately-owned vancant lot, available for purchase.”

I love driving through the streets of Manistee, there are some really gorgeous houses everywhere. Mostly “painted Ladies” that once were divided up into apartments and are now being refurbished to their old beauty and elegance.

There is also a Kmart in Manistee 😛