Sand Beach or Harbor Beach Which Is It?

Monday June 17, Day 56

Hey, Hey, Hip Hooray, I Get to Wear My Shorts Today! 

That was John's little chant as he got up this morning.  And he did!  He put on his shorts, went outside, and promptly returned to put on longer pants. ..

We are seeing farmland as we move up the "thumb" .  This area was settled in the 1830's with a sawmill for processing lumber.  As the story always goes, the trees were quickly decimated, and the lumber industry disappeared.  I also remember reading that this area was marshy and the settlers promptly went about filling in the wetlands to make the area suitable for farming.  My relative, Ferdinand Nemitz,  who came here from Germany in the mid 1860's was a farmer.  

These are good sized farms, prosperous looking. And  many of the homes along the lakeshore , while a mixture of old and new are big waterfront homes.  Wheat, corn and grains play a big role in the farming.

 In Huron County, on the coast, the town of Barnettsville was created in about 1855,  but it changed its name to Sand Beach.  This is the name I find on census records in 1870 and 1880.   However, the name was changed in 1899 to Harbor Beach, because they thought the name Sand Beach implied there was nothing there but sand. The town became incorporated in 1910.  

The main reason that I see for changing the name is because the town boasts as being the largest man made fresh water harbor in the world!   This harbor would have been created about the time Ferdinand came here.  I have never heard of him being involved in the harbor, but it is entirely possible.  The population now is only 1700, so there would have been a lot of call for labor.

This is huge!  The main breakwall is almost a mile long!  It sure doesn't look that big from where we stood.

However, despite the purported enormity of this harbor, it was very quiet while we were there.  There were only a few geese floating around.   The town promotes this area as being on the sunrise side of the thumb.

The light house looks very small in relation to the importance of the harbor.  Maybe because the water is calm there is no need for any big ships to take refuge here today.

This girl was waiting to rent out kayaks.  It was a little windy and cool, and I don't think her prospects for a lot of customers was too great.

John was looking interested as I explored and read about Sand Beach, Harbor Beach.  However, when we turned the corner to look at the harbor, lo and behold, here was a Sensient Factory!  It blew his mind.  Sensient was the last company he worked for, with Formulabs as a subsidiary.  This is a global  company, and why they located this flavor factory here is a mystery to us.    

This branch of the company makes flavor enhancers.  Want your Cheese-it's more cheesy?  This is where that flavor comes from.  Want your ice cream more chocolaty tasting,, your meat loaf more down-home style?  Sensient creates the taste.  In fact, probably most any processed food we eat has  flavors from Sensient! 

Just when you think you have no connection to a place, there is one.