For those who follow this blog, you’ll remember that my 95-year-old mum and I have visited quite a few of Hemingway’s haunts over the past few years, including his homes in Cuba and Key West.  When we planned our current trip to Northern Michigan and Southern Canada, little did we know that once again, we would be following in Ernest’s footsteps!

Petoskey, Michigan

A young Ernest Hemingway spent his summers near the quaint town of Petoskey, Michigan. Many landmarks of his life in town are memorialized by plaques. We saw where he lived, where he fished, and where he recuperated after World War I.  He frequented the local saloon (of course) and chose the third spot at the bar for his hangout.

History at the Bar

In the past, this bar was a “men only club”, and instead of sitting at stools at the bar, the men stood and leaned against the bar.  There used to be a spittoon every three feet on the ground. The 32-foot-long mahogany bar was built in 1894 by the Brunswick Billiards Company; it’s now worth more than the building.  The mirrors are original; only the gas lights have been changed out for electric ones (leaving the ceiling charred from the gas lamps).  Billiard tables used to grace the area now populated by tables for dining. 

Our Guided Tour

One of the bartenders has become a local historian and was delighted to give us a complete tour of this restaurant, which was once a speakeasy supplied by Al Capone.  

Mary Ellen, the bartender in a Roaring 20’s dress with pearls, guided us through the bar and told about it’s history, including stories about Hemingway and his pals.  Our tour also included a view of the basement, where there were three hidden tunnels for bootlegging liquor to adjacent properties. (My mother was not too excited when the lights in the basement went out because they were on a timer.  Our guide had to ascend the stairs to turn them on, while I held on to my mother’s hand and we both stood still.)  When we ascended the stairs and came back to the restaurant, we learned that this establishment was never busted during Prohibition, because the owner had friends in the right places.

Petoskey Was Not Proud of This History

In fact, the town of Petoskey had swept this history under the rug, because it was not entirely complementary.  Little has changed to the facade of the restaurant, which was built in 1875, even though the buildings on both sides have burned down. Apparently, during Prohibition, the windows on the ground floor were blacked out, but the top windows were clear, allowing for the bar’s employees to keep a lookout for the police.  Hemingway immortalized this saloon in his short story, “A Man of the World”.  (It’s on our reading list!)

 

Thanks to a 2015 NY Times Article, we learned about Hemingway in Northern Michigan:

By all accounts, northern Michigan had a seismic effect on Ernest Hemingway and his  future work. He spent his first 21 summers there, fishing, hunting, drinking and chasing girls. It was a place where men lived hard and lean, ran trotlines and considered bilge water a beverage. “Good stuff for essays,” he wrote in a 1916 journal entry, recording fishing trip details he would later channel into Nick Adams stories.

Apparently, Ernest returned to Petoskey after his stint in World War I and worked on his novels at this rooming house:

The story in the New York Times stated that Hemingway was late for his first wedding, in nearby Horton Bay, because the fishing on the Sturgeon River was so good.  (This was his marriage to Hadley, his first wife, who was reportedly a Methodist teetotaler from Michigan. The bartender told us that the locals knew it would never work out!)

Across the Border

Not to be outdone by Michigan, when Mama and I arrived in Sault Saint Marie, Canada, we found that Canada also takes credit for entertaining Hemingway!

This was printed in the free tourist magazine for the area. (Sault St Marie is nicknamed “the Soo”, because “sault” is pronounced “soo”.)

Canada was fun — we met the locals:

And learned a lot from the historical characters in the museum.  Who knew that both Canada and the US claim to have won the War of 1812!

We took a train ride deep into a canyon and admired the engineering that built the tracks through the rocks.

Later on our trip, we returned to the US and will soon visit Mackinac Island.  We don’t think we’ll find more Hemingway sights on the island, but who knows? Stay tuned!