NPS Website; Local Website
WHAT IS IT?Clusters of privately owned facilities, including the world’s largest steam hoist, which commemorate copper mining on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
At Keweenaw NHP, like the New Bedford Whaling NHP, the Park Service has collaborated with existing local groups and businesses to share the history of an American industry. There are no federal facilities in the park.
BEAUTY (2/10)
There is nothing pretty about the world’s largest steam hoist. The small town of Calumet, part of the historical park, could be seen as quaint with its red stone buildings lining narrow streets. We saw it as rainy and cold.
HISTORICAL INTEREST (5/10)
By 1849, the Keweenaw Peninsula provided 85% of the entire United States copper production, powering early industry in the country. Drawn by job opportunities, the peninsula attracted immigrants from around the globe. The NPS pamphlet says that Keweenaw copper affected the outcome of the Civil War by providing the Union with an important strategic advantage in the manufacture of arms and war material.
CROWDS (3/10)
There were very few people touring the Keweenaw Peninsula while we were there. One family set off on a tour of the Quincy Copper Mine as we browsed through the large gift shop. The cashier assured us they could start a new tour whenever we were ready. Just say the word.
The streets of Calumet were empty, probably due to the weather. Perhaps if there were more people out and about, we would have had a better idea of what we should have been looking at.
EASE OF USE/ACCESS (1/5)There are no federal facilities in this National Historical Park. Each private building keeps its own hours and while the main NPS pamphlet lists the names and phone numbers of each “cooperating partner”, there are no physical addresses. Driving up and down the rain soaked Keweenaw peninsula with no Visitor Center or Information Office (closed on weekends?!?) to assist us was frustrating to no end.
That frustration only escalated when we arrived at a place and found it closed or charging a fee we were not willing to pay. Why not call ahead? Cell phone service is very, very spotty on the Upper Peninsula.
CONCESSIONS/BOOKSTORE (1/5)
We saw no NPS bookstores. However, the gift shop at the Quincy Mine and Hoist was quite nice. Copper jewelry, the usual clothing and souvenirs, bins of semi-precious minerals and stones and stuffed animals made for nice browsing as we dried out from the rain and checked into tour information.
If we were rating the Quincy Mine bookstore this rating would be much higher. We are not. We are only rating the facilities of the National Park System.
COSTS (1/5)
Because all of the cooperating sites are privately owned, they receive little or no funding from the feds and therefore charge admission. We understand that these places need to make money. Understand that we are not willing to shell out admission fee after admission fee for over a dozen places when we are entering what is said to be a National Park.
RANGER/GUIDE TO TOURIST RATIO (1/5)
We saw none. We are still unclear what exactly, if anything, the National Park Service does at Keweenaw. There are two NPS Headquarters – neither are open to the public. There are clearly Rangers there. What do they do? Educational programs? Historical research for the affiliate sites? Conservation efforts? How exactly does one conserve a mine? We were plagued with these questions and more – with no one to ask.
TOURS/CLASSES (1/10)
We did not pay to take the $12.50 Quincy Hoist and Mine tour, nor did we have the chance to check out Coppertown USA since it was closed for the season when we arrived.
FUN (1/10)None. We were miserable and cranky as we drove from cooperating site to cooperating site using a NPS map with no addresses or street names to guide us. We know nothing more about the copper industry in Michigan than we did when we started.
WOULD WE RECOMMEND? (1/10)
No. It is hard to fault a town or a region that has been able to utilize federal funds to restore their history. But we sincerely hope that these cooperating/affiliate/kind of but not really sites are not the future direction of the National Park Service.
Without accessible Rangers and a centralized Visitor Center to connect and make sense of the affiliate sites, visitors are left to wander from private site to private site and piece the history together themselves. Public/private partnerships can be wonderful things, but only if both partners are actively engaged in promoting the partnership. We saw the towns of Keweenaw Peninsula working hard to bring tourism to their area. We saw nothing to indicate the presence of the National Park Service beyond the big brown signs. Keweenaw NHP is a National Park in name only. This was a real disappointment.
TOTAL 17/80
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