Enjoy Our Guidebook

Our entire historic sites series is complete with 8 guided routes, 6 of which we feature in our all new Historic Sites Guidebook. With over 150 sites, researched, documented and explored, we give YOU historic photos that are all courtesy of our area museums and cultural centers along with Little River Band of Ottawa Indians Historic Preservation department. Many of these photos have never been published before this guide, and we are making them available for you to explore and enjoy.

In this guidebook, we will take you through Historic Downtown Manistee, East & West Manistee Homes, Historic Churches, Destination Site, and our Historic Mill Communities along with an all-inclusive tribal history piece on the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians.

Scan the QR code and get turn-by-turn directions to the spot where this historic turn-of-the-century photo was taken and you can recreate it through your own eyes and our guidebook!

This project had complete access to the entire Manistee County Historical Museum historic photo archives and the team of historians and volunteers there have spent thousands of hours cataloging and scanning these into workable images. Without them, this guide would not be what it is today and locals and visitors would not be able to experience this incredible depiction of history.

Visit the Origins Walk

Sitting at the west end of the Manistee Riverwalk (First Street Beach/Douglas Park), the Origins Walk is designed to take you on a journey of exploration and enlightenment. This area features cut metal sculptures representing 20 significant people/influencers who shaped this region from the Indigenous People through the early 1900s. The area is highlighted by the meandering walkway and steel colonnade featuring the foundational elements that made up our area, from the early geological formation of the great lakes through to the modern day.

We welcome you to explore, share ideas and be inspired by our local history at the Origins Walk.

Walk alongside cut metal silhouettes of 20 influential people who shaped our region.

This site serves as the home to the historic sites series, where you can learn more about all of the tours in our region.

Watch the Videos

Hollywood Actress/Manistee Native Toni Trucks (known for her parts in Seal Team and Twilight Breaking Dawn)  dedicated the first phase of the Manistee County Historic Sites Tours, upon its completion in 2018.  The 25 video series and comprehensive tour is the county’s most comprehensive tourism project in history.

These videos are all available through QR code links in our historic sites guidebook along with many other historic views and rarely before seen photographs of our historic sites.