Granot Loma Estate - A National Historic Landmark

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Eagle

I’ve been blessed with wonderful, lifelong friends. One of these, a world-class architect who recently received the American Association of Architects highest award, calls ridgelines the “second shoreline,” and adds that in many ways they have advantages over the shore itself.

In contrast to lakeshore, ridgelines have no erosion concerns, no hikers walking the shoreline, and they present a higher, more majestic view. At the water’s edge your eye sees a line of water and a lot of sky, but as you rise in altitude above the surface of the lake, the water becomes a much wider and larger part of your view.

This 38-main.jpg' alt='/- acre parcel has a full 180 degree, commanding, dramatic view over Lake Superior, Deer Lake, and four islands: AuTrain, Williams, Wood, and the really big one, Grand Island. It’s at the crest of Onota Hill, the highest hill in the area, and from it there’s a panoramic view as fine as anything in the central U.P.: sunrises and sunsets, and Northern Lights.

From just south of Deer Lake, you look down on land where 9,000 years ago a two-mile long channel drained a post-glacial lake into Lake Superior. Powerful currents carved steep, rocky slopes on the sides of the valley and deposited sands and gravel that form the valley floor.

This land includes thirty-eight acres with privacy, underground power, deeded road access, sunsets, sunrises, clouds, shadows on the water, storms, sun, a site that will make your architect dream. On the top, behind the ridgeline, is roughly 8 – 9 acres of flat, buildable land with a 50/50 mix of fields and woods. The whole forward slope of the hill below is included and that protects your view from a home site at the ridgeline. You’ll discover this is truly a place to call home in the little community-in-the -woods called Onota.

Access is five miles up plowed county roads off Highway M-28, the principal state highway on the southern shore of Lake Superior. This provides easy access to the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Hiawatha National Forest, two deepwater harbors, a first class downhill ski area, limitless cross country and snowmobile trails, wild land, lakes, and streams. DNR Public Access sites and boat launching facilities are nearby on Deer Lake and Lake Superior.

Marquette, the U.P.’s largest city, the smallest of the ten cities that recently received the national “All-American City” designation, is just 20 minutes to the northwest. It has the regional hospital and regional airport with scheduled jet service, shopping, concerts and services.

You’ll find Walden-like privacy with civilization near enough in Marquette when you want it. “Civilization” means a modern library, playhouse-on-the-bay, Northern Michigan University with Division I sports (hockey), museums with interesting history of the north shore, mines and lakes, and some really deli’s and restaurants that will surprise you. Friendly, talented, well-traveled people settled here because they know. Deer feed on your doorstep. It’s Northern Exposure with comforts and convenience.

It’s an appealing lifestyle. There’s easy public access to Deer Lake and Lake Superior nearby, and the best sand beach you’ve ever seen right where the AuTrain River flows into Superior. That means you can swim in the surf of the big lake in warm water comfort, or enjoy a warm, beautiful inland lake. The list of things to do is long, and I won’t recount it here. But you’ll tell your friends that when they come to visit you will do something with them that they’ll talk about the next time you get together.

Unlike most areas with exceptional natural beauty, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has not been over-developed and will not be. Half of the U.P. is in federal or state ownership, which gives the land permanent protection. The huge block of forest, streams and lakes that form Hiawatha National Forest lies just to the southeast, so you’ll never lack for room to roam.

Of the remaining, private 50% of the U.P., timber companies own 90% and mostly in square mile blocks. They view these lands as a strategic corporate asset to be held for the long-term production of forest products, so they are not sold and broken up. Instead they are usually enrolled in the Commercial Forest Reserve, or “CFR,” which provides a significant tax break in return for 1) holding the lands exclusively for the production of forest products, and 2) allowing public access for hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation.

The bottom line is that upwards of 90% of the U.P. remains wild and open to the public by law. Development is limited to just 10%. Clustered development with the surrounding land held open is more reminiscent of the European style than the United States. So give yourself a treat and come see the U.P. Consider the pleasures of owning this exceptional building site. It’s a siren song. You will like it!

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Disclaimer
The information presented in this web site is and by nature will likely always be a "work in progress" subject to errors, omissions and revision. It is intended as a primer for those interested in buying U.P. real estate and contains personal observations and opinions with which others may disagree. It was obtained from sources deemed reliable, but is not warranted by Dick Huey or Huey Real Estate.