Many of us, while traveling along Highway US-2 at Lake Michigan in Mackinac County, have wondered about something there called the Hiawatha Sportsman’s Club.

We hear that it is the largest member-owned sportsman’s club east of the Mississippi River. My curiosity got the best of me, so I stopped to check it out. I entered the club near Naubinway and found Lester Livermore Jr., club manager for the past 5 years.

Shortly, I learned a lot of amazing facts. The club is 78 years old and has 35,000 acres, four lakes, 70 miles of trout streams, a golf course, archery and trap shoot ranges, a spectacular museum, and much more.

“We have eight full-time employees, including a forester and a biologist,” Lovermore said. “Although the hunting, fishing and similar privileges are for members only, our museum and golf course are open to the public.”

The club has 1,185 members who own hundreds of cabins and homes, and there are 42 rental cabins for members and their guests.

It all began in June 1927, through a Lansing firm.

“There were grandiose plans in the beginning,” Livermore said. “Each membership was to be $1,000, a lot of money then. Plans called for a lodge, dining hall, golf course and even a bowling alley. Along came the Depression to ruin all that, and, somewhere in the 1930s, a $10 membership got you a cabin for two weeks, along with a boat, firewood and lamp oil. By 1935, the club had nearly 1,000 members.” he said.

The club is basically 6 miles by 10 miles, including five miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, with most of the property north of Highway U.S.-2. All is in Mackinac County, except for about 160 acres in Luce County.

Naubinway, a small fishing village on the Lake Michigan shore, is surrounded by the Hiawatha Club.

“We know they cannot expand without our help,” Livermore said, “so we have given them land for a cemetery, marina and ball field. We all respect each other and we get along fine,” he said.

While the club’s membership is exclusive, the member attitude is all about the area community. Livermore is longtime chairman of the Mackinac County Road Commission and president of the nearby Engadine School Board. He even coaches some junior high school sports.

“Our museum tells it all,” he said, “we have a dedicated bunch of volunteers who make the museum go. It is an amazing facility, with information, history and artifacts about the whole area and its long history of lumbering and fishing. Museum visitors should check before coming because the hours are limited,” he said.

The museum is housed in a large and beautiful old log building that was the original lodge where members stayed in the early days, when the only access to the club was by train from St. Ignace.

There are nearly 100 artesian and flowing wells from 27 to 225 feet deep on the property.

Although the current membership of nearly 1,200 comes from 32 states and three countries, the club mission statement is simple and carefully followed by a board of directors that meets quarterly. The mission statement simply says, “The Hiawatha Sportsman’s Club’s aim is to promote good fellowship among its members, advance true sportsmanship on field and stream, promote the finest of out-of-door recreation and the spirit of conservation of all natural resources among all its members.”

A paragraph in the club history book explains how it got its Hiawatha name: “Longfellow’s epic “Song of Hiawatha” inspired wide application of the name of its hero and other characters in the northland. The real source began with OBAHBAHM-WAWA GEEZHAGOQUAY, the half-Irish granddaughter of Ojibway Chief WAUBOJEEG, the first wife of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, who passed her written and oral legends on to Longfellow.”

So, now we have probably learned more than we wanted to about it. You can learn more at www.hiawathaclub.com.