Early Settlers and Pironeer Life

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Early Settlers and Pironeer Life

Early settlers & Pioneer Life

Could it be that the zephyrs, so tender and gay Whispered of this beautiful land?
They must all have conspired the story to tell So pioneers would all understand.
So those seeking homes soon rode there in boats To the shore of that promised land,
And ox teams drove through the untraveled woods In an ever increasing band.
And there, amid hardship and strife and hard work The settlers built their new home
Where the sunset so brilliantly swept by the shore, And this Beautiful Charlevoix was born.

A Fantasy, by Rosa Nettleton - May 13, 1954

The permanent settlement of Pine River dates from 1854 with the arrival of Medad Thompson and his wife, Mormons estranged from the way of life they had encountered on Beaver Island. Fishermen had erected shoreside cabins and shanties on all three lakes for several years before that date, but not one of those temporary inhabitants could properly be called a settler. Their way of life precluded working and changing the land. After the Battle of Pine River and the resultant panic cleared the area, it was almost a year until there were new inhabitants.

After the Thompsons came the Dixons and others, ever so slowly at first, with increased momentum after the Civil War. Some stayed, a few founded other communities further along Pine Lake, many left. Those who initiated the history of Charlevoix showed noteworthy grit. It was a difficult life they chose, building homes in an astonishingly beautiful but unforgiving wilderness, in an environment of climatic extremes. These are the most prominent of our influential forebears.

Note: for additional information see the text following the pictures.