{"id":390,"slug":"north-manitou-island-village-michigan","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["North Manitou is the wooding — the 'steamships' that's the stopped for fuel, the '269' that's the 1860 peak. The 'Crescent' is the '06 — the 'sawmill village' that's the Smith & Hull's, the '1915' that's the closed and left. The 'MIA' is the bought — the 'company island' that's the '26 formed, the 'deer introduced' that's the hunting resort planned.","The '3,000 years' is the depth — the 'archaeological' that's the Great Lakes' richest, the 'seasonal' that's the Native hunting grounds. The 'Cottage Row' is the '93 — the 'Chicago friends' that's the summer colony, the 'one-day boat' that's the distance measured. North Manitou is the preserved — the 'sleeping bear' that's the park protected, the 'ghost village' that's the buildings remain.","The file keeps North Manitou: the wooding station, Crescent's mill, the company island, and the preserved ghost town.","North Manitou Village is the archive's Michigan file — the island's pauses."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["North Manitou Village is the archive's Michigan file — the island that keeps starting over.","A village keeps its layers — the file's suggestion being that North Manitou's hold is the serial: the '3,000 years' that's the seasonal use, the 'sawmill' that's the boom and gone, and the 'company island' that's the planned retreat preserved."]}],"name":"North Manitou Island Village","aliases":[],"type":"GHOST_TOWN","type_label":"Ghost Town","cats":["GHOST_TOWN","HISTORIC_SITE","ISLAND"],"groups":["ghost-towns"],"desc":"Ghost town associated with documented cultural history.","full_desc":"North Manitou Island Village is a ghost town in Leland, Michigan. Ghost town associated with documented cultural history. The archive files it under ghost towns and islands. The dossier holds 2 documented facts — the record is history-forward, no paranormal claims on file. Closed to the public, but not to the record. The dossier keeps the place and the story in the same record — which is what the archive is for.","address":"Eastern North Manitou Island","city":"Leland","county":null,"state":"Michigan","postal":null,"region":"Midwest","lat":45.021444,"lon":-85.757109,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"CLOSED","access":"RESTRICTED","access_notes":"2026 construction restricts island access; docks and present villages closed, ferry suspended. Check NPS boundaries.","ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":null,"research_notes":"Historical locality from NPS; exact boundaries need mapping. Public access to neighboring land and historic interiors is not presumed.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":67.9,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.85,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":1,"paranormal_claim_provenance":null,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[],"history":[{"description":"Historic eastern island village retained lifesaving and resort buildings. A ghost town's file is unusual: the emptiness itself is documented, and this entry is part of that record. This belongs to the verified spine of the entry, the layer everything else is measured against. The detail is preserved in 'Ghost Towns of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore'. It is the kind of fact the rest of the dossier leans on.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Ghost Towns of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore","url":"https://www.nps.gov/slbe/learn/historyculture/ghosttowns.htm","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}},{"description":"The village was abandoned as the island became Sleeping Bear Dunes wilderness; buildings remain. The town's documented rise and abandonment is the record the rest of the file stands on. The fact is historically verified — the part of the file that doesn't need hedging. The detail is preserved in 'Sleeping Bear Dunes'. It anchors the timeline the rest of the file hangs from.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Sleeping Bear Dunes","url":"https://www.nps.gov/slbe","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}}],"legends":[],"entities":[],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"operating_season":"2026 island access limited; dock/village reopening expected in 2027.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-14T10:36:19+00:00","source":{"name":"The Manitou Islands: 2026 Access","url":"https://www.nps.gov/slbe/planyourvisit/the-manitou-islands.htm","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}},"sources":[{"name":"Ghost Towns of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore","url":"https://www.nps.gov/slbe/learn/historyculture/ghosttowns.htm","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1},{"name":"The Manitou Islands: 2026 Access","url":"https://www.nps.gov/slbe/planyourvisit/the-manitou-islands.htm","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1},{"name":"Sleeping Bear Dunes","url":"https://www.nps.gov/slbe","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}],"conflicts":[{"field_name":"short_description","existing_value":"Ghost town associated with documented cultural history.","incoming_value":"The Lake Michigan island village left to the silence.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"full_description","existing_value":"North Manitou Island Village is a ghost town in Michigan. Ghost town associated with documented cultural history. Historic eastern island village retained lifesaving and resort buildings.","incoming_value":"North Manitou Village is the preserved ghost village on the NPS wilderness island—the farm-and-cottage community abandoned as the island became wilderness.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"current_status","existing_value":"CLOSED","incoming_value":"ACTIVE","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"public_access","existing_value":"RESTRICTED","incoming_value":"PUBLIC","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"research_notes","existing_value":"Historical locality from NPS; exact boundaries need mapping. Public access to neighboring land and historic interiors is not presumed.","incoming_value":"Lore enrichment wave 2; VERIFY task auto-queued.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."}],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":0,"history":2,"legends":0,"entities":0,"sources":3}}