Maritime Museum gives visitors a chance to step into the area's maritime history, with a variety of interactive exhibits and digital storytelling.
The Amber Elk farm has 175 animals across three different pastures accessible by wagon tour. (Courtesy Photo)
The museum boasts three stories of exhibits that offer authentic artifacts, historic photographs, and the voices of people who played key roles in maritime industries that shaped the region.
Ludington offers fall attractions BY COLIN MERRY VENTURE STAFF WRITER The Ludington area has several attractions residents and visitors can still enjoy during the fall, both outdoors and in. Amber Elk Ranch Visitors to the Amber Elk Ranch can get a good look at a working elk farm, including opportunities to get up and personal with the ranch's elk. The main attraction is a wagon tour through the ranch's 130 acres across three different pastures, which is home to 175 elk. Visitors will see cows, spikers, calves and bull elk up close. Visitors can feed the cow elk, which come up to the wagon for a treat, and Amber Elk Ranch's bulls are internationally acclaimed. The tours are about an
hour long. The Angler Shed, the ranch's gift shop, has clothing, hats, decorative antlers and antler dog chews, as well as other elk products. Visitors can also talk to Bob and Dawn Northrup about the ranch, which was founded in 1999. Amber Elk Ranch is open on Saturday, from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, until Oct. 13. For more information, including ticket price, visit amberelkranch.com or call (231) 843-5ELK. The ranch is located at 2688 W. Conrad Road in Ludington. Port of Ludington Maritime Museum The Port of Ludington
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Exhibits include Portholes to the Past, Beckoning Beacons, Mysteries Beneath the Waves and Steaming into the Future. The museum also has exhibits on individual ships, including exhibits on what life on a steamer or car ferry was like, as well as legends and tales surrounding the maritime industry. There also are exhibits and information on area lighthouses, the Coast Guard and the lumbering days. The museum overlooks Lake Michigan’s wild shoreline, Ludington’s iconic North Pier Light, and the Badger, a historic car ferry. The museum is operated by the Mason County Historical Society. The Port of Ludington Maritime Museum is open Friday and Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information and ticket prices, visit ludingtonmaritimemuseum. org or call (231) 843-4808. The museum is located at 217 S. Lakeshore Drive in Ludington. Historic White Pine Village The Historic White Pine Village also gives visitors a look into the past, this time at an late 19th to early 20th
century pioneer village. The village has 30 exhibit buildings, including the original 1849 Mason County Courthouse, and an authentic turn-of-thecentury steam locomotive, tender car, and flat car loaded with logs and a working sawmill. Buildings include cabins, a school, a general store, a trappers cabin, a chapel, a sugar shack, lumber camp buildings, a barn, blacksmith, post office and farm house, among others. There are also specific museum buildings, such as the Museum of Music and Abe Nelson Lumbering Museum. Each building itself contains artifacts of the past, and visitors come faceto-face with early settlers: first-person interpreters with scripts carefully prepared by staff and historians, they interact and improvise with visitors in the persona of historical characters and recreate actual personages from Mason County. While there are buildings to enter, much of the tour is outside, and the buildings are open to airflow. A full tour of all the buildings takes about two hours. The White Pine Village is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays. The museum is located at 1687 S. Lakeshore Drive, Ludington. For more information and ticket prices, visit historicwhitepinevillage.org or call (231) 843-4808.
