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this is Michigan Moments Rediscovering
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the pioneering moments of the Great
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State In the 1950s tucked into the
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northern curve of Michigan's Thumb a
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modest cluster of weathered cabins stood
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quietly on the shore of Eagle Bay This
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was Burnt Cabin Point Resort handbuilt
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handrun and remembered mostly by those
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who cast a line there or watched the sun
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drop behind Point Oark In 1960 it was
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run by Charles Mortimer a man whose name
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still comes up in county history rooms
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and bait shop banter The resort wasn't
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about luxury It was about fish
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smallmouth bass in particular and the
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kind of company that didn't need much
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more than a quiet cabin a hot cup of
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coffee and the smell of fried perch from
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the kitchen out front Boats were pulled
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up on the sand bait buckets lined the
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dock and Detroititers would escape the
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grind for a few nights in a place where
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slowly It was a stretch of beach where
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summer was always opening day and
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conversation was baited with memories
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You didn't need a brochure to find it
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You needed someone who'd been
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there But in the early 1960s something
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changed State maps modernized burnt
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cabin point was quietly erased no longer
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labeled no longer official Then came the
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fire One February morning flames took
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the lodge the restaurant and the rooms
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where Mortimer stayed He survived shaken
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but alive The resort did not Today it's
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quiet again The cabins are gone The name
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lingers on local tongues and in the
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archives But if you stand at the water's
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edge and listen long enough you might
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still hear laughter from the porch the
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squeak of a screen door and the low
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rumble of a Johnson outboard heading out
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toward the shores This has been Michigan
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Moments offering bite-sized morsels of
