Eaton County

Roxand Township, Michigan. Just barely.

Mulliken Road, south of Mulliken, Michigan.

Mulliken (Roxand Township), Michigan.

It's easy to imagine that this house was someone's pride and joy, back in the day. This was one of a couple adjacent houses built by the Van Houten family, early white settlers in Roxand Township, Michigan. It's likely that parts of the house date from the 1840s. While the family apparently no longer owns the property, several generations of Van Houtens grew up in this house and the one next door. The house still looks sound, but I doubt it's long for this world. In the end, bet on entropy. Always.

While we've other neighbors who raise horses, the Bonley farm 's the only real horse farm around here. It is simply a different kind of farm from the local norm. This overhead view will perhaps show what I mean . I find the place fascinating. A few days back I showed you an abandoned house on what had once been the Van Houten properties. This farm was the main Van Houten place, apparently for a century or so, and this was the other house I mentioned in last week's photo's writeup. As you can see, it's still in use, and thriving.

North of Charlotte.

Eaton County, Michigan.

Oneida Township, Michigan.

This barn's standing alone and abandoned south of Sunfield, Michigan. Being me, I had to find out more. The farm currently belongs to the George L and Mary Thorp Trust, but the barn was apparently built by another George Thorp in the 1880s. The farm was Thorp family property in 1860, if not earlier, but was substantially unimproved. According to self-provided information published 1891, George B and Betsey moved to the farm in 1883, but a federal agricultural census has George (and presumably Betsey, since they'd married in 1870) on the farm in 1880, growing a little bit of everything. What's clear is that George and Betsey transformed the land from a substantially-forested place to a working farm. One of those improvements was this large barn. The barn's now abandoned, as you can see. A sad fate for a proud structure. Sources: Chapman Publishers' 1891 Portrait and Biographical Album of Barry and Eaton Counties , and information from Ancestry.com.

Ash Highway, Chester Township, Michigan. Photo taken 12/4/2012.

Today's barn's in Eaton Township, on Clinton Trail east of Charlotte, Michigan. While I pass the place pretty regularly, the photo was taken on my way home from the Milan Bluegrass Festival a couple years ago.

Eaton County, Michigan; 10/7/2014

Bismark, Michigan; 10/7/2015. Yes, two Bismar(c)ks this week. 'Twasn't planned; just photos stashed in the same "Country Roads" folder.

Dow Road, across from the Bonley Farm. Eaton County, Michigan. 74/365