Manistee County

The name Manistee comes from the Ojibwa who lived in the region. Some believe it means Spirit of the Woods–and that seems fitting. The abundance of towering white pine trees attracted John Stronach to build the first sawmill in the area in 1841. A thriving lumber town rose up along the river. A fire destroyed much of the town in 1871, and wealthy lumber barons decided to rebuild the town out of brick; those structures still line River Street today. The Manistee streets are quieter now than they were in the town’s heyday, but the Victorian charm and over a century of remarkable history remain.