Hemingway spent his boyhood summers here in N. Michigan, wrote his first stories about events that happened to Nick Adams on the land between Charlevoix and Petoskey, I did too. Midway between the 2 resort towns of my childhood was a large cement factory and a limestone quarry, as a kid, I remember my dad telling me “Bobby, someday they will build a new city there instead of a cement factory” I remember thinking my dad was either visionary or a dreamer. He is, as it turns out, both.
Bay Harbor became one of the most beautiful resort towns in America in the late 1990’s when the quarries were blasted open to create 2 new harbors on the North shores of Lake Michigan (rated #1 harbor by Boating Magazine last year). The faces of the limestone cliffs are now lined with luxury second homes, along 6 unspoiled miles of beach. An eco-nightmare-brownfield-turns resort is a greenie/development victory - the developer was Victor International
Over the last couple summers the men in haz-mat suits appeared in the back yards of the multi-million dollar homes and the media erupted with “news” of environmental contamination of the water from lime leeching from the old quarry. The news said the developer of the project would pay $40 million to ensure clean up of the site. The ‘news’ was alarming and GRIM.
The real story dates back to my childhood, we always believed that something icky was leeching from the site. When we would sail in front of the old factory the joke was ‘get the boat moving or the hull will rot’. So for many locals (known as townies in these parts, tourists are fudgies) the ‘news’ that after decades of contamination, they were finally cleaning up the site officially and permanently, was good news indeed.
Funny how things get twisted in the media and the real story (just like leeching lime waste) is just below the surface…
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