OUR COMMUNITY
A view of the Porcupine Mountains in the Upper Peninsula.
Exploring Close to Home
Michigan man has taken 38,000 photos of nearly every town in the state. ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT KRASNICK
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xplorer Scott Krasnick has taken more than 38,000 photos of towns across Michigan. While living in Downtown Detroit, Krasnick, 50, decided to see where Van Dyke Road ended. “I didn’t look at a map,” the Hillel Day School employee says. “I just drove it.” Throughout the drive, Krasnick saw what he calls “tons of wonderful towns.” Since he lived in a Detroit home at the time that was built in 1877, he was fascinated by old buildings and architecture. Krasnick, who now lives in Roseville, decided right there and then that he wanted to explore every town in Michigan. He strived to find more charming places and hidden gems like he was seeing on his drive up Van Dyke Road. The journey began in 2014. Today, Krasnick estimates that he’s seen 100% of all towns in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula
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SEPTEMBER 23 • 2021
A windmill in Bridgeville
and 75% of all towns in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In the summer and good weather, he spends nearly every weekend making road trips across the state. Since driving is his preferred method of traveling, Krasnick, who doubles as an amateur photographer, says being on the road helps him discover surprising places he might not see traveling by other means, like train or plane. He especially likes to drive down back roads. “I’ve been everywhere on the official state map that they give out at rest stops,” Krasnick says. “I’ve been to every city, and then some that aren’t on the map, like ghost towns in the Lower Peninsula.” At each location, Krasnick takes hundreds of photographs. His goal: to preserve what towns look like in their current states, particularly towns that have remained unchanged for decades or in some cases, centuries. “You see postcards of different old
