Exploring Ironwood

East Aurora Street, Downtown Ironwood.

Ironwood is a small community at the western edge of Michigan's Upper Peninsula where the Montreal River separates it from Hurley, Wisconsin.

 

We spent three days, two nights in Ironwood at the Americinn Hotel on U.S. Highway 2.  While we don't boat, fish, or hunt there were plenty of things to do; interesting places to visit; and good places to eat.

Things to do:

* Visit the historic Ironwood Theater (you can see the top of the sign on the right side of the street in photo).

This gem has been restored as was the house organ and is actively hosting entertainment.  It's open to visitors during the day when the box office is open, that's when I looked around the beautiful theater.

Stormy Kromer, 1238 Wall St.

* Head to the Stormy Kromer factory and retail store, tours are offered daily (10:30 am when we were in town), if you miss it a video of the factory is playing in the store.  If you miss the tour you can still learn about Stormy Kromer and check out their products.

* You could spend a couple days visiting waterfalls around Ironwood on both sides of the Michigan/Wisconsin line.  We found a helpful guide at our hotel that let us know how accessible the falls were before we drove there.  The Chamber of Commerce website devotes a page to the falls.

Places to Visit:

Ironwood's Depot.

* Miners Memorial Heritage Park shares the story and history of mining in and around Ironwood.  The last mine closed in 1966.  The former mine site is now 165 acres of woods, trails, and activities.

* Old Depot Museum is the starting point of the Iron Belle trail and a good place to learn from a local the best places to visit while you're in town. The gentleman serving as host the morning I stopped in was a fountain of knowledge with wonderful suggestions on what to do and how to get there.

A must stop for quilters.

* A stately brick house a block off the main street will attract attention of people who love fabric, quilts, quilting... and their spouses.

 

 While my wife was shopping, I took advantage of the compact downtown to walk three blocks to grab some donuts from a local bakery.  When I returned, she was still inside.

Places to Eat: 

* Ben's Place - a breakfast and lunch diner is a delightful place to eat.  There is a long old-fashioned stainless steel ice cream counter; lunch counter; and hand-dipped malts and shakes.  I think we were the only tourists in the place while we had a delicious lunch.  After an hour of shopping, I walked back for a malt made with Cedar Crest ice cream, it was amazing.

Stop at Rigoni's.

* Rigoni's was my destination on my search for donuts.  Once inside I learned they also made and sold pastys - a British pastry that bakes a full meal inside a a wrap of bread.  

 

The only goal on our trip we didn't check off was eating a pasty (pronounced past E).  They can be made a variety of ways, from meat and potatoes to something packed with meat and vegetables.  In fact, our destination was Joe's Pasty Shop, which was closed, when we were about to get back in the car we saw we were in front of Ben's Place.

 

There are a couple chains in town (McDonald's, Domino's, and Subway) but most restaurants are locally owned.

We didn't know what to expect when we decided to spend a couple nights in Ironwood.  In addition to pleasant accommodations and gracious hosts at the Americinn hotel, we completely enjoyed exploring Ironwood.

All photos by David Mossner.