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Glide down the streams of St. Joseph County in southwestern
Michigan past the site of a Native American village that
stretched for miles and catch a glimpse of how things used to
be. See a trading post from the early 1800s that was replaced by
a Georgian-style manor, a blacksmith shop from the 1870s that is
currently a museum, and evidence of an 1850s era sawmill,
including the remnant of its dam and millrace, that once sent
lumber to Chicago and Milwaukee.
Thus begins the description of the St. Joseph River Heritage
Trail, the first Water Heritage Trail in the U. S. St.
Joseph County Michigan is known as River Country because it has
more navigable rivers and streams than any county in the state.
The entire Heritage Water Trail takes you from Colon, Magic
Capital of the World, to Mendon, originally an Indian Village
and trading center, to Three Rivers which has retained its
historical look, with much of the downtown area on the National
Historical Register, complete with its turn-of-the-century
buildings and the Silliman House on the St. Joseph River.
Sanks to a small band of paddling enthusiasts and amateur
historians, these sites-and more-are now the first part of an
ambitious state project called the Michigan Heritage Water
Trails.
St. Joseph County is known as River Country because it has the
most navigable rivers and streams in the state, so it's fitting
that it's here on Aug. 21 that the first water trail will
officially open. Peterson and others have spent years
researching historic sites related to the 46-mile sections of
the St. Joseph River, the Portage River, Nottawa Creek and a
tiny snippet, some 100 yards, of Little Portage Creek that
comprise phase one of the project. Eventually, in River Country
alone, the trail will total 150 miles and include nine "streams"
(the general term used for a flowing body of water
A
great day can be had paddling along the St
Joseph River, Nottawa Creek, and Portage River discovering
historic sites, picnic areas and cultural and natural points of
interest along the way. The River Country Heritage Water Trail
is made up of three different river trails two along the St.
Joseph River and one along the Nottawa Creek.
As the St. Joseph winds its way west of Mendon towards Three
Rivers, the ending point of the first phase of the trail, it
passes under the Langley Covered Bridge (SJ-12), built in 1867.
The 282-foot bridge, named after a local pioneer family, is the
longest covered bridge in the state as well as one of the few
that remain.
More information along with photos, maps and directions
available at
www.rivercountry.com
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