March 28, 2024

All Things Michigan

Feb. 19, 2016

There are a lot of things that are interesting, accomplished, quirky, cool and just plain great about our state. Here are a few:

- President Obama keeps a Petoskey Stone on his desk. It was reportedly purchased at Bailey’s Place gift shop in Petoskey by a friend of White House photographer Pete Souza as a gift for the president’s 50th birthday.

- The oldest ginger ale brand in the United States is Vernors, created in 1866 by James Vernor, a pharmacist from Detroit.

- Traverse City–based Grand Traverse Pie Company now boasts 15 locations and recently launched sister company Maui Pie in Hawaii.

- Chelsea actor Jeff Daniels, fresh off spotlight roles in The Martian and Steve Jobs, is working on the next two movies in the Divergent series: Allegiant (out this year) and Ascendant (2017.)

- Michigan produces 70–75 percent of the tart cherries grown in the United States, making it the No. 1 cherry-producing state. - Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was named The Most Beautiful Place in America by TV talk show Good Morning America.

- Grand Rapids musician-turned-actor Joshua Burge has made the leap from indie films to the big time; he’s snagged an L.A. agent after his standout role in the Oscar-nominated 2015 movie The Revenant alongside Leonardo DiCaprio.

- Mackinac Island’s Grand Hotel still has what’s reportedly the longest front porch in the world at 660 feet.

- Dearborn’s Islamic Center of America is the largest mosque in all of North America and the oldest Shia mosque in the U.S.

- The majority of March’s Ben Affleck–starring Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice movie was filmed in Detroit and East Lansing, with Detroit standing in for the fictional city of Metropolis.

- Speaking of the man of steel, Superman ice cream is a Michigan thing; it originated at the Detroit ice cream company Stroh’s and is rarely found outside the Midwest.

- Michigan hosts one of the world’s largest electronic music festivals, Movement (May 28–30 this year), which brings more than 100,000 music fans to Detroit’s Hart Plaza annually.

- Fiber optics, automotive assembly lines, the Boeing jet, synthesized penicillin, three-color traffic lights and that familiar yellow line down the middle of every road were all invented in Michigan.

- The pilot for the new SyFy channel sci-fi/mystery show 12 Monkeys was recently filmed in Detroit.

- The Mackinac Bridge has been featured on the Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, as well as on the History Channel’s Modern Marvels.

- Got a favorite breakfast cereal? There’s a good chance it was born in Battle Creek, headquarters of the Kellogg and Post cereal companies and brands like Frosted Flakes, Rice Krispies and Corn Pops.

- Work clothing manufacturer Carhartt – whose jackets and other gear are seen on everyone from auto technicians to the likes of Rihanna and Jonah Hill – is headquartered in Dearborn.

- Michigan is the only state where your hand serves as a map of where you live.

- Royal Oak filmmaker Sam Raimi is executive-producing Starz TV’s new Ash vs. Evil Dead series starring fellow Michiganian Bruce Campbell.

- Grand Rapids, Warren and Sterling Heights are home to some of the largest populations of Polish-Americans in the country.

- Also from Grand Rapids is actor Taylor Lautner (Twilight), currently co-starring with Luke Wilson and Jorge Garcia in Netflix’s American comedy-Western The Ridiculous 6.

- Thanks to the Great Lakes, Michigan has the most lighthouses of any U.S. state, with a total of 150 current and past lights.

- Michigan’s sister states are the Shiga Prefecture of Japan and the Sichuan Province of the People’s Republic of China.

- Perhaps the most famous Motown musical export, Stevie Wonder, is still going strong at 65 and just appeared with James Corden in a segment called "Car Karaoke" on Corden’s late-night talk show.

- And, finally, Michigan is the only state where you can find cities named both Paradise and Hell.

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