Inscription
Frederick Burnham settled in Michigan in the 1840s. In 1850 he married Julia Clark in Ann Arbor. Beginning in the 1850s, the Burnhams acquired large tracts of Presque Isle County’s rich timberlands. Among their holdings was the land purchased in 1868 by the U.S. government, where the Presque Isle Harbor Range Lights were constructed.
In the mid-to-late nineteenth century Burnham developed a prosperous mercantile and lumber business here. He constructed two large docks and the roads needed to transport wood to the boat landing, which stood near this site. The harbor, known as Burnham’s Landing, provided shelter to ships during foul weather.
When Burnham died in 1880, Julia and their son Frederick II assumed management of the family’s business. The Burnham home, store, and lumber camps were destroyed by the 1908 Metz fire.
Location
Sources
More markers in Presque Isle
Lake Huron
Bearinger Township, MI
This, the fifth largest lake in the world, was the first of the Great Lakes seen by white men.
Forty Mile Point Lighthouse
Rogers City, MI
During the late 1800s, the U.S. Lighthouse Board created a system of coastal lights along Lake Huron’s Michigan shore so that mariners...
World's Largest Limestone Quarry
Rogers City, MI
Limestone is a mineral raw material essential in making steel, chemicals, and cement.
Elowsky Mill
Posen, MI
According to local historians, Prussian immigrant Michael Elowsky fled the political turmoil brewing in Eastern Europe in 1862.
Presque Isle Light Station
Presque Isle, MI
This lighthouse, built in 1870 by Orlando M. Poe, is one of three Great Lakes towers built from the same plans.
