Fishtown Preservation
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Home
  • Events
    • Fishtown 5K 2022
    • Giving Tuesday 2021
  • Visit | Stay
    • Shanties
    • Art Shanty
      • Art Shanty – 2022 Lineup
    • Fish Tugs
    • Fishtown Shops and Charters
    • Fishtown Vacation Rental
    • Photo Galleries
    • Our Community
    • Directions and Map
  • About
    • Fishtown Board
    • Fishtown Staff
    • Commercial Fishing Today and Q & A
    • Internships
    • FAQs
    • Our Partners
    • Fishtown Newsletters
    • News from Fishtown
    • Media / Press Coverage
  • Support
    • Donate to Fishtown
    • Campaign for Fishtown
    • Become an Anchor
    • Our Business Anchors
    • Get Involved
  • Blog
    • Stories and Fishes and Me – Meet Gabby Grobbel
    • Stories and Fishes and Me – Discovering Fishing Tales and Art Inspiration
    • Stories and Fishes and Me – Let’s Talk Fish
    • Stories and Fishes and Me – Fishtown Then and Now
    • Stories and Fishes and Me – Discovering the Manitou Islands
    • Stories and Fishes and Me – A Busy Time in Fishtown
    • Stories and Fishes and Me – Leland Blue Stones
    • Stories and Fishes and Me – Common Fishtown Questions
    • Stories and Fishes and Me – Piping Plover Project
    • Stories and Fishes and Me – Defining Fishtown
  • Shop
    • Clay Carlson giclee prints
  • Fishtown Forever
  • Contact
Navigation
Search the site...
  • Home
  • Visit Fishtown
  • Shanties (Page 3)

Fishtown’s Shanties

Fishtown facing east, showing the Leland Power House, ca. 1930s.  Erhardt Peters Collection, LHS.

Fishtown is a unique historical attraction composed of weather-beaten fishing shanties and small shops lining the mouth of the Leland River. The site has endured and adapted over the last 150 years as an ever-evolving working waterfront that still operates as one of the only unmodernized commercial fishing villages in the state of Michigan.

meggen watt shanties

Click to see the shanty photo gallery

One of the most important characteristics of Fishtown is its core of historic shanties. Though only a few are still used for commercial fishing operations, most of the structures in Fishtown had their origins as commercial fishing buildings. These buildings served many purposes, including net-mending sheds, ice houses, smoke houses, and storage. Though processes like ice-making are now mechanized in a commercial fishery, running a fishery still requires extensive space for equipment storage and net repairs.

Many buildings have come and gone from the Fishtown landscape with the changing fortunes of the industry, yet Fishtown survives as a rare working waterfront and an authentic and active commercial fishing village.

 

Stories and Fishes and Me – Piping Plover Project

Piping Plover Project Gabrielle Grobbel – Fishtown Preservation This week I wanted to talk about birds because I really like birds. Let me explain why. Birds are some of the most frequently studied animals in Biology. In fact, not many topics in Biology haven’t been studied in terms of birds. Birds are easy to observe […]

Read More

Stories and Fishes and Me – Common Fishtown Questions

Common Fishtown Questions Gabrielle Grobbel – Fishtown Preservation While working in the Fishtown Welcome Center this summer, I have been asked a wide range of questions. Some visitors ask for more details on the history of Fishtown, while others are interested in the ecological factors that influence the commercial fishery. I have enjoyed getting to […]

Read More

Stories and Fishes and Me – Leland Blue Stones

Leland Blue Stones     Gabrielle Grobbel – Fishtown Preservation   I spent countless summer days as a child exploring rock beaches around Michigan’s coastline. If it was colorful or had an interesting pattern, I added it to my collection. I loved finding bits of frosted sea glass as well, each one a small treasure. It wasn’t until […]

Read More

Stories and Fishes and Me – A Busy Time in Fishtown

A Busy Time in Fishtown Gabrielle Grobbel – Fishtown Preservation It is the height of the season in Fishtown, and Leland is at its busiest. In my experience this summer, I have found that each week is a new adventure. There are new opportunities, new people passing through, and few quiet moments. After such a […]

Read More
‹12345›»
(c) 2013 Fishtown Preservation - Web Design by History By Design and Alyeska.
  • Log In
  • Sitemap
  • Archives
  • FAQ
  • Contact Us