A Brockway Mountain Sunset.
What is the most scenic spot you know? If you’ve been on this road, the Brockway Mountain Drive has to be at the top of your list. During the Great Depression unemployment in this area wasa staggering number, 75-80%. This scenic drive was created by unemployed miners digging through the rocky terrain of the northernmost area of the Keweenaw Peninsula ending in Copper Harbor, Michigan. Other New Deal projects were numerous and have contributed to the landscape in the area even today.
The 16 mile long road passes by a huge rock face on one side, with a steep drop off on the other side, in many places. Canopied with trees and unencumbered my man-created buildings, the Brockway Mountain Drive is a beautiful trip. At the summit, nearly everyone stops for a look at the scenery. On our last night we saw two lake freighters while we watched the sunset. From the summit you can see harbors, islands, lakes, trees. It is a priceless view, and it is FOR SALE!
Privately owned, this park-like setting has been used by the public since the road was built, but now it could be cut off to the public and sold to developers. Several organizations have joined together to raise money so that Eagle Harbor Township might buy it and keep it available for public use. The Nature Conservancy and the Audobon Society are adjacent landowners and are partners in the fund raising, along with many others including the Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District and the Kewwnaw Land Trust. The are working to obtain grant and private funding to acquire the top of Brockway Mountain and surrounding 320 acres, and to keep it forever in the public trust.
The tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula is an important migration path for raptors as they move north. You’ve heard the phrase, “as high as the eagle”, well up on the summit that’s where you are!
Bonnie has family photos from the 1940’s of being on Brockway Mountain Drive. The trees are bigger, but the effect is the same-beautiful surroundings. We support the efforts of the local people of Eagle Harbor Township to keep this treasured piece of land available to the public. For more information, visit www.eagleharbortwp.org.
We have sent a check and invite you to help save the view for public use.
KCWC-Brockway Mountain Project
Eagle Harbor Towship
321 Center Street
Eagle Harbor, MI 49950
Did I mention that we drive up there every night while we are in Copper Harbor?! It is the only place for miles around that we can talk on our cell phone! Can you imagine a place where you have to drive 4-15 miles to use your cell phone, and the one spot might become someone’s walled-off castle?
We invite you to help get the word out, and the money in, and save this piece of Paradise.