One Book speaker Ron Rademacher shows audience some pictures of Michigan’s must-see treasures.
A One Book, One Community event revealed Michigan destinations that hold unknown treasures.
Monroe County’s One Book, One Community program hopes to foster an appreciation for literature in the county through various book discussions, film series, and workshops.
Speaker Ron Rademacher presented a mixture of curious pictures and captivating stories from the adventures he writes about in his book “Oddities and Rarities” on April 3 at the Ida Branch Library.
Rademacher specializes in finding the remote and quaint tourist destinations in Michigan.
He is a traveling enthusiast. His wife suggested he document his discoveries, and a business was born.
Rademacher began creating websites that promote touring small towns in Michigan.
Rademacher is also the author of a five-book series “Michigan Back Roads.” He currently has four of the five books published.
Each chapter in “Oddities and Rarities,” which is one of the books in the series, highlights unusual artifacts or destinations in Michigan.
During the presentation, Rademacher listed several tourist locations. Each destination came with a story.
One must-see destination is the museum in Ontonagon. The museum is open all year round, six days a week. Rademacher said the museum holds many one of kind exhibits.
He said everyone has to find the mystery tool. The tool was only used between 900 A.D. and 1100 A.D. to build Viking sailing ships.
Tourists visiting the museum can hold the tool and learn its history.
Some tourists from Wisconsin asked Rademacher to give them a must-see destination near Traverse City. Rademacher said he doesn’t do Traverse City because it is too famous. After some persuasion, the Wisconsin tourists were able to get something out of him.
“If you held my feet to the fire, I would go pay my respects at Colanthra Walker Memorial,” Rademacher said.
He said Colanthra Walker was an athlete, who set records in the 1900s that have never been broken.
The memorial is set up to the left of The Commons.
There is a festival held every year in July that celebrates Colanthra Walker’s milk production records.
She was the world’s champion cow.
“In her 16 year career, she produced 200,000 pounds of milk, 75,000 pounds of butter fat, and her one-year record was 22,918 pounds of milk. It has never been broken to this day without the help of mechanical milkers,” he said.
“However, what I want to see are the forearms on the milkmaid.”
One Book, One Community events continue until April 19. The list of events can be found at http://www.monroeccc.edu/onebook/events.htm
This story was updated on April 4, 2017 at 2:59 p.m.
