Lodging Dining Points of Interest Related Links Related Links   County Historical Museum – Marinette County Historical Museum-artifacts of the trading posts, Indian culture, logging and lumbering history, farming, fishing, etc. Open Tue. - Wed. - Thurs- Fri. from 11am-4pm. Group tours by appointment. Call 715-732-0831. –Menominee County Historical Museum & Michael Anuta Research Center – In the 900 block of 11th Ave., off U.S. Hwy 41 The Museum features exhibits highlighting the early days in the County’s history. Open June 1 to Labor Day, Mon.-Sat. One of 1,000 scenic and interesting places featured in Reader’s Digest 384 page travel book “Off the Beaten Path.” 906-863-2535 Picnicking – Red Arrow Park with extended beach and beautiful marshy area, City Park, Stephenson Island and several municipal parks. – John Henes Park - In Menominee on Henes Park Drive off M-35. A 45 acre recreational facility on Green Bay with 2,600 feet of water frontage. Picnic tables, grills, 2 shelters, pavilions, restrooms, playground, baseball field, guarded swimming beach, fishing, nature trails, and ample parking. –J.W. Wells State Park – On M-35, 23 miles from Menominee and 1 mile from Cedar River. A 974 acre wilderness area on Lake Michigan’s Green Bay with 150 trailer and tent camping sites, electricity, water, flush toilets, swimming beaches, bathhouse, outdoor center, picnic areas, nature trails, and an adventure program throughout the summer. –Menominee Marina Park – In Menominee’s Historic Waterfront District. A 5.7 acre park with 1,100 feet of waterfront, one of the largest marinas in the U.P., boat landing, gas dock, pump-out, restrooms, picnic tables, park benches, playground, and 150 parking spaces. –Kleinke Park – On M-35, 15 miles north of Menominee. A 24 acre area on Green Bay with 25 campsites (20 with electricity) picnic area, water, toilets, carry-down boat ramp, fishing, and swimming. –River Park – Off U.S. 41 in Menominee on the Menominee River east of the Interstate Bridge and alongside the M & M Plaza Mall. Picnic tables, grills, restroom/shower facility, playground, 52 trailer sites, tent area, boat landing, fish cleaning station, ample car and boat trailer parking. –Shakey Lakes Park – Off County Road G-12, 12 miles from Stephenson, 30 miles from Menominee. A 215 acre outdoor playground with 100 car parking lot, baseball field, horseshoe pits, basketball hoops, shelters, playgrounds, concession stand on grounds, 102 campsites (80 with electricity), shower building with hot water and flush toilets, and trailer dumping station. Six connected lakes with 11,000 feet of water frontage, good fishing, swimming, and water skiing; boat ramp and 2 miles of nature trails provide access. Entrance fee and 11:00 pm curfew. For additional information on the parks listed call: Menominee County Parks – 906-753-4582 or, Menominee County Extension – 800-236-1678 Golf – Little River Country Club on Shore Drive, Marinette (715) 732- 2212. 18 holes, dinning & banquet facilities. Indoor driving range. – North Shore Golf Club on M-35, Menominee (906) 863- 3844. 18 holes, dinning & banquet facilities. – Riverside Country Club, 3001 14th Ave., Menominee (906) 863- 9937. 18 holes, dinning & banquet facilities. Boating – Sail the Green Bay or boat in the Menominee River – marina, boat landings; boat charter Fish Tales Scenic Boat Cruise (906) 863-2267. – Dock your boat at Nestegg Marine, 300 Wells Street, Marinette, WI, (715) 732-4466. Biking – Join in the fun of biking with Spokes and Folks biking club, www.spokesandfolks.com Riverside Drive – see the historic lumber baron homes, and commercial buildings. Statues and Monuments – on Riverside Drive, in honor of our "Queen" Marinette and Senator/Pioneer Lumberman Isaac Stephenson. Downtown Marinette – visit the variety of shops and stores. Downtown Menominee –Menominee’s Historic District – Downtown Menominee is located on the Bay, at First Street and 10th Avenue. The turn of the century buildings there now house specialty shops, restaurants, and art galleries. The historic Waterfront District offers parks, beaches, marina, boat launch, and the North Pier Light is only a few blocks away. Something for all interests. Pine Tree Mall – the Pine Tree Mall offers a variety of stores, as well as a restaurant, for your service and enjoyment. Marinette Civic Center Domes – 2000 Alice Lane, Marinette, (715) 732-0558 – Domed facility features indoor artificially cooled ice rink, indoor tennis courts and outdoor swimming pool. Michiels Dome Lanes – 801 University Drive, Marinette (715) 735-3650 – Bowling, ACCU score, volleyball court, lounge, snack bar, pool tables, video games. Mariner Theatre – Located in the downtown area at 2000 Ella Court, the Mariner Theatre offers several screens in state-of-the-art digital sound. (715) 732-9364. GKC Pine Tree Mall Theatre – 9 screen theatre offers state-of-the-art digital surround sound (715) 732-9690. Fishing – Marinette is on the Green Bay and Menominee River either of which provides for great fishing. Theatre-on-the-Bay – at UW-Marinette. For performance schedule contact (715)735-4313. Stephenson Islands Marinette Chamber Performing Arts Pavilion – SunSet concerts series on Tuesday evenings from June-August. Great Lakes Memorial Marina Park – Concert in the Park concerts series on Thursday evenings from June-August. Marinette County Waterfalls – Follow this link to the Marinette County Waterfalls Map. Please be patient as the page will be slow to load. Menominee, MI History MEN-O-MI`-NI The City of Menominee got its name, which means “wild rice”, from one of the several tribes of Indians that occupied this area long before the arrival of French explorer Jean Nicolet in 1634. In fact, research has indicated that humans have inhabited the shores of the Menominee River for more than 3,000 years. The “Menomini” belonged to the Algonquian group in the Eastern Woodland area – a broad belt extending from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. The Woodland tribes had pottery, practiced agriculture, and had complex social, political and ceremonial organizations with general similarities in costume, folklore, and certain religious concepts and art. In the central Algonquian group were the Menominee, Ojibway, Pottawatomi, Sauk Fox, Ottawa, Kickapoo and other tribes characterized by intense clan organization, highly developed religious concepts and ceremonies. CLANS AND SPIRITS The Menominee were divided into two main clans – Thunderbird and Bear. On each side were minor clans. Symbolism of the division is striking: a bird clan – upper people, peace and religion; a beast clan – lower people, war and force. Menominee tradition places the joining of the clans into a tribe at the mouth of the Menominee River where the City of Menominee now stands. Creation of the earth was accomplished by the Good Mystery. There were no men, but there were many Manitos (spirits), both good and bad, some living underground, some in the air. The Golden Eagle was the Invisible Thunder, who could soar in the air high above the earthbound spirits. To compensate for his earthbound existence, the bear was made an Indian. The Eagle then descended to become an Indian also. Each then adopted animals and birds into their clans, and they also became Indians. At first without food or fire, the Good Mystery aided the Menominee in obtaining it; made wild rice grow in the river sloughs; corn, squash and beans were given them. It was at this state of development that Manabush entered the picture. He was half spirit, half man, and upon his adventures Longfellow based his epic poem “Hiawatha”. He was a good spirit, whom the bad spirits sought to destroy. He helped the Indians – stole an ember from the secret fire of the underground spirits. Manabush whirls gaily through all Algonquin legend. Retelling of his mythological adventures whiled away the hours around Indian campfires from the Mississippi to the Atlantic. The “Spirit Stone,” sacred to the Menominee, is still preserved, just as it was, on the lawn of the State Tourist Information Center. Legend has it that it will bring luck to whomsoever makes an offering to the spirit of the stone and makes a wish. The Indians believed that when the Spirit Stone has weathered away, the last of the Menominee will have gone to the “happy hunting grounds” of the Great Spirit. HOW THEY LIVED The Menominee lived in dome-shaped huts made of a framework of poles and covered with bark, skins or mats made of rushes. Beds were raised above the ground – a pole lattice supported on notched sticks, covered with grass or boughs, then with skins and reed mats. The mother carried young children in a cradleboard, but contrary to popular belief did not spend all their time there. When the mother was near the hut, the child came out to roll and play on the ground. In general, the Menominee were peaceful people. Menominee men were not great warriors; in fact they were more sedentary than the men of some Woodland tribes. They helped with the rice harvesting, took part in the maple sugar making, fished, hunted and only occasionally went to war. Contrary to popular belief, the Menominee had more dugout canoes made from the fire-hollowed trunks of butternut trees than they had birch bark canoes. Dugouts were easier to make, less fragile. Birch bark canoes were valuable in travel, were treasured for scalps, hunting expeditions, and the use of hunting parties who had to go long distances. Snowshoe frames were made of ash, the framework filled with a network of buckskin. Ash, ironwood, and hickory were used for making bows. Sometimes two kinds of wood were fastened together with glue made of deer hooves. The same glue was used with sinew to fasten arrow points to the shaft. Both arrow shafts and bows were ornamented and painted. Quivers were made of tanned buckskin, ornamented with copper or shell beads or colored porcupine quills; and sometimes the tough skins of deer and bear with the hair still on formed the quivers. Flint, and more rarely copper and bone, were used for making arrow points. The Menominee had a greater variety of foods than the Indians of most other tribes in the Woodland area. Nature favored them with a more equitable climate, more abundant fish and game. Forests were filled with bear and deer, moose and elk; the rivers and lakes with sturgeon, whitefish and trout. In winter fish were speared through the ice. Fish were smoked on racks over slow fires, or dried in the sun on bark slabs. Of course, rice was most abundant. The villages were of semi-permanent nature, located along the banks of the Menominee River for convenience in fishing, hunting and travel. In 1796, an Indian trader and agent for a fur company established a trading post on the opposite side of the River (in what is now Marinette, WI). Later the post was moved to what is now the Michigan side and did a thriving business until white settlers in search of timber, around the early 1850s, came into the area in great numbers. END OF AN ERA As the story goes, Louis Chappieu (Chappee) married a beautiful Indian girl and some of their descendents lived for many years in the Peshtigo and Oconto areas of Wisconsin. Other traders followed Chappee and received large grants of land from the Indians. These men realized the possibilities for more than the exchange of furs. Water-powered sawmills were built by 1852, and the first steam sawmill was in operation in 1856. The area grew from a collection of native huts to a worldwide shipping center for lumber at the turn of the century. Coveted especially was the White Pine, which was ruthlessly cut, milled and shipped by big companies from the East. Today, remains of dams and booms built to control the flow of logs down the Menominee River to the sawmills at the River’s mouth can still be seen. From there, wood was transported by boat across Green Bay and across Lake Michigan to various other ports of destination. A vastly different situation exists today, as the lumber industry consists of only a handful of small sawmills scattered throughout the county. Of interest to students of history is the fact that lumbers from these NORTHWOODS built a great part of the Midwest during the 1800s and early 1900s. In 1863, Menominee County was organized, school laws were established, districts set up, and the village of Menominee became District #1. In 1890 the system of free textbooks was adopted in the grades and then extended to the high school in 1895. Kindergarten was introduced in 1893. The Federal Indian treaties of the 1850s relegated the Menominee Indians to a reservation approximately 50 miles west of the present city at Keshena, Wisconsin, where the tribe continues to thrive. TODAY… As the forests were depleted, other industries replaced lumbering, and today Menominee has a number of diversified businesses. The City of Menominee was incorporated on March 16, 1883, just twenty years after the county was organized. A former center of the thriving lumbering industry, Menominee was once known as the White Pine Capitol of the world. When the last of the great saw mills on the Menominee River closed in 1930, it was the end of an era. By that time, Menominee had already begun its substantial industrial diversification program, which aided the community in making the transition from a lumber town to an industrial center. With over 50 different industries contributing to the economic well being of the community, Menominee looks forward to many years of further industrial expansion with more businesses growing up from the grass roots of local initiative and endeavor. The people of Menominee are industrious and hard working, believing in the old axiom of an honest day’s labor for an honest day’s wages that over the years made this city a good place to live. DeYoung Family Zoo –-DeYoung Family Zoo – Located approximately 1 ˝ miles west of U.S. Hwy 41 and 1 mile south on County Road 577. The Zoo focuses on exotic felines and gives each visitor the opportunity to interact with these magnificent creatures one-on-one. Other animals at the zoo include bears, emu, peacock, raccoons, and many others. Check their website at www.deyoungzoo.com or call for more information – 906-788-4093 IXL Historical Museum, Inc. – IXL Historical Museum, Inc. – Located in Hermansville, MI. A unique museum erected in 1882. Step into the last century office atmosphere of large lumbering and flooring manufacturer. Large collection of records and artifacts. National Historic Site. For more information 906-498-2181 Horse Back Riding Lee Lake Riding Stable, LLC 9070 Lee Lake Road Pound, WI 54161 Phone: 920-897-4805 (Reservations Recommended) Owners - Deb & Steve Ruid Sporting Clays Acorn Acres Sporting Clays, LLC W7142 Noquebay Road, Crivitz, WI 54114 Located 1.5 Miles North of Crivitz on Hwy 141 then 2.2 miles East on Noquebay Road. Phone: 715-854-3299 Open Year Around - All Automatic Clay Throwers Rustic log club house with drinks, snacks, ammunition, and rental guns. Grill and picnic tables for your use. Campfires on cool days. Ear and eye protection. Owners Patty and Joe Fendryk acorneacresclays@centurytel.net Marinette City Park (Between Carney Avenue and Mary Street) CAMPING: Overnight camping available in designated area west of the pavilion. Sites providing electrical hookups are available. Showers and dump station are available. Campfires are prohibited. PAVILION: Enclosed pavilion available for rental seven days per week on a first-come, first-served basis from May through September each year. Pavilion amenities include two cook stoves, two refrigerators, a long buffet counter with outlets for serving, hot and cold running water and sink for cleanup. Indoor seating capacity for approximately 60 individuals and additional outdoor seating for more than 200. Outside and adjacent to the pavilion are; two permanent charcoal grills, horseshoe pits and a playground. Call the City Clerks office at 715-732-5140 for reservations. Red Arrow Park (at the end of Leonard Street - park closes at dusk) Red Arrow Park SWIMMING AND PUBLIC ACCESS TO GREEN BAY - A large sandy beach area along with nature trails make this one of Marinette's most popular destinations. ENCLOSED PAVILION - Enclosed pavilion available for rental seven days per week on a first-come, first-served basis from May through September each year. Pavilion amenities include a large cooking range, refrigerator/freezer, a long buffet counter with outlets for serving, hot and cold running water and sink for cleanup. Inside seating capacity for approximately 60 individuals and additional outdoor seating for more than 200. Outside and behind the pavilion a large charcoal grill is available along with a nearby playground. Call the City Clerks office at 715-732-5140 for reservations OPEN PAVILION - An open sheltered pavilion with picnic tables is available for rental seven days per week on a first-come, first-served basis from May through September each year. Electrical outlets are available. Call the City Clerks office at 715-732-5140 for reservations. Fred Carney Park (adjacent to Ogden Street) Fred Carney Park ENCLOSED PAVILION - Enclosed pavilion available for rental seven days per week on a first-come, first-served basis from May through September each year. Pavilion amenities include a cooking range, refrigerator, hot and cold running water and sink for cleanup. Inside seating capacity for approximately 30 individuals and additional outdoor seating for more than 20-30. Outside the pavilion a basketball court is available along with a nearby playground. Call the City Clerks office at 715-732-5140 for reservations. SOFTBALL FIELD - Field for informal games and practices available on a first-come, first-served basis. Dagget Street Park BASEBALL & SOFTBALL FIELD - Field available for informal games and practices available on a first-come, first-served basis. PLAYGROUND AND BASKETBALL COURTS - Playground and basketball courts with four hoops. Open shelter pavilion also available on a first-come, first-served basis. Stephenson Island (On Menominee River by Interstate Bridge) ENCLOSED STAGE/GAZEBO - Enclosed stage/gazebo is available for rental seven days per week on a first-come, first-served basis from May through September each year. Call the City Clerks office at 1-715-732-5140 for reservations. OPEN PAVILION - An open sheltered pavilion with picnic tables is available for rental seven days per week on a first-come, first-served basis from May through September each year. Electrical outlets are available. Call the City Clerks office at 715-732-5140 for reservations. PICNIC AND PLAYGROUND AREA - nearby is the Marinette County Historical Society's Logging Museum and the State Tourism Center is just across the river channel via the steel walking bridge. BOAT LAUNCHES - Annual City of Marinette launch permits are valid at Red Arrow, Stephenson Island, Boom Landing, and Sixth Street slip, and can be obtained at Marinette City Hall, 1905 Hall Avenue, as well as from other locations throughout the city. Contact 715-732-4140. Annual or daily launching permits are required at all four (4) launching piers in the City of Marinette. A fish cleaning station is located at Boom Landing. County permits cannot be used at city launches. HOURS - All parks close at 10:00 p.m., with the exception of Red Arrow, which closes at dusk. Ferry Service Spirit of LaSalle offers passenger ferry service from Menominee, MI to Sturgeon Bay, WI. The Spirit of LaSalle Cruise Line consists of two vessels. The first vessel, Spirit of LaSalle, is a 115ft. vessel that has two decks and carries 149 passengers. The second vessel in the fleet is the Isle Royale Queen which is a 80ft. single deck vessel that carries 100 passengers. The Spirit of LaSalle offers scenic sightseeing cruises on Green Bay, where the scenery is spectacular and your interest can be explored and fulfilled! For more information contact 906-864-9330 or www.spiritoflasalle.com