Our minds were blown just a bit by the amazing gem we found during our late Fall trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We shared many of our adventures up there with you (if you missed any, check out the UP adventures here) and we have another one to talk about.
Have you heard of Lakenenland Sculpture Park? We had not, but a friend told us about it and since we were driving by it one day on M-28, we figured we would stop.
Oh my gosh!
Tom Lakenen has created a wonderful place to enjoy more than 80 sculptures he has made out of scrap iron on his 35+ acre property. The pieces are quirky, creative and big. You can take your time driving through the park and admire the pieces. It is open to the public and it is free. (There is a donation box where you can leave some money for the upkeep of the park; we did and we’d encourage you to do so as well).
You can find out more about this amazing place on the Lakenenland website or on the Lakenenland Facebook page.
There is also a short fun walk on the property called the Bog Walk; we’d encourage you to explore that as well. It’s made of recycled telephone poles!
At the end of the tour we came up to a small shed like structure where there is a guest book you can sign and where the donation box is. There was a woman in there wiping down the shelves and as it turns out as we chatted to her we discovered she is Tom’s mother. She was so very kind, and we learned from her that Tom is also responsible for creating a 10 x 12 foot hikers shelter that he made from an old sauna deemed for demolition. Hikers exploring the North Country Trail, a 4600 mile trail that stretches from New York to North Dakota, will find themselves along the back southernmost part of Tom’s property and passing by the shelter. The hikers are free to use the shelter to rest and will find rustic furniture including a cot and a table with seats. Tom’s mom encouraged us to check it out, so we did. It was pretty awesome to see the structure and the various notes that had been left inside the shelter by hikers. We can truly see that Tom has a love of the land and a passion for bringing other people joy.
Here is our video compilation of our tour at Lakenenland. Be sure to stop if you are in the area, you will not be disappointed!
You can also watch a piece that the Detroit Free Press did on Lakenenland in the Winter.
