Leonard, Michigan!

We could not have picked a town in Oakland County further away from our home than our first randomly generated destination: Leonard, Michigan.  Milford is in the lower, southwest corner of the county near the Livingston County line.  Leonard is in the northeast corner of Oakland County - just a stone's throw from Macomb County.  Our trip would take one hour and 15 minutes to drive the almost 47 mile route.
View map of route

You can build up a lot of anticipation in an hour and 15 minutes of travel time which was not very fair to little Leonard.  In fact, it was tempting to pick another name from the hat rather than make the long trek to such a small little town in what felt like the middle of nowhere. But rules are rules and we reminded each other that our reason for beginning this adventure was to broaden our horizons, spend quality time bonding as a family and to create our own adventures.  It would be easy to follow the flock to towns hosting art fairs and annual festivals but it is hard to really get a true sense of a community if you only visit when throngs of other people are descending there at the same time from surrounding areas.  A visit to Leonard, Michigan (population less than 400) in the middle of February challenged us to use our imagination and find the beauty in unexpected places.

Our road trip started, as always, with an exciting game of "Crapper!"  Along the way we agreed to another friendly competition when we challenged each other to find the most interesting person/place/thing in Leonard, Michigan.  There were no prizes this time - only bragging rights - but this might change in future trips.

Yes, it's dorky, but it's fun to pose next to the town sign! I'm sure the locals thought we were nuts though! The strawberries gracing the top of the welcome sign are a hint to Leonard's annual Strawberry Festival held the third week of July since 1952.  

We were not sure what to expect from this small town.  Just beyond the village sign was a large, modern fire station.  "Downtown" Leonard is a "blink and you'll miss it" kind of place with one stop light but I was fascinated by what I saw.  The heart of the village seems to be the Leonard's Market.  Reminiscent of an old town general store, the Leonard Market is the go-to place for groceries, bait, liquor, propane, and what looks to be a pretty decent take-out restaurant offering pizza and chicken and subs.  There are no fast-food restaurants in Leonard to compete with the Leonard Market but to our surprise there is another business competing in this very small village.....and I like to imagine they are bitter, bitter rivals!

No ladies and gentlemen, there is not one but rather TWO places in the tiny village of Leonard where you can buy propane, cash your check, send/receive a Western Union money order, stock up on liquor, grab some groceries, get your lottery ticket and order a sub!  Addison Foods is about four doors down from Leonard's Market.  In the photo below you can see just how small the downtown district is.  The white building on the right in the foreground is Addison Foods.  Leonard's Market is a short walk up the block on the same side of the street, just past the barber shop. 

I'm sure the real story is not as rich and exciting as the Hatfield and McCoy melodrama I invented in my head about the fiercely loyal customers of each little market.  How will Jimmy's family, a Leonard's Market loyalist for generations, ever except his new fiance Suzy whose family has never, and will never shop anywhere else but Addison Foods?  If their love can survive this deep cultural rift how will they negotiate their holiday celebrations?  Where will they buy their propane and hot dogs for the annual Strawberry Festival BBQ?  Where will they take their future children for ice cream and live bait?  This is what my mind does if it's allowed to wander off leash.  

Speaking of wandering.....we did just that.  Without a plan or destination in mind we drove around the outskirts of Leonard looking for contestants in our "most interesting person/place/thing" contest.  We journeyed down a quiet dirt road and were stunned to discover that we were on Dequindre Road!

To those outside of the metro-Detroit area you may be wondering why this would be shocking.  Dequindre is a rather major north/south thoroughfare that usually looks like this photo taken from Google Earth at the corner of Dequindre and the infamous 8 Mile Road (shown below).  If you follow Dequindre straight north as far as you can do you will reach the end at Leonard Road (shown above).    

I learned that the road was named after Major Antoine Dequindre who was an early Detroit resident of French descent who led a militia of 50 Michigan riflemen into battle against the British and Native Americans in the War of 1812.  He and his men sunk a British gunboat on the Rouge River with a canon one month before the unfortunate surrender of Fort Detroit by General Hull to the British forces. In order to avoid being massacred by the Indian forces fighting with the British, Hull negotiated a surrender that allowed the Michigan Militia to be set free to return to their regular lives.  Dequindre himself had an interesting encounter with these Indians during the time the British occupied the Fort. It is retold in Anthony J. Yanik's book, The Fall and Recapture of Detroit in the War of 1812: In Defense of William Hull.  On page 142 he writes: 

Antoine Dequindre's experience is a perfect example of what Detroit citizens had to endure. On one occasion two Indians entered his store, snatched up a roll of cloth, and began to leave without paying. Dequindre leaped over his counter, snatched the cloth out of their hands, and forced them out of the building. The Indians reacted by yelling out their war cry. Anticipating trouble, Dequindre locked the door of the store and ran to the fort for protection.  A horde of Indians surrounded the building, breaking down the front door and smashing windows. The British garrison told Dequindre that there was nothing it could do to help. Hearing the commotion, Colonel McKee, a British Indian agent, had the presence of mind to impound several barrels of whiskey. He placed them on the ground in the common before the fort and invited the Indians to join him in a drink. Soon all where too inebriated to concern themselves any longer with Dequindre's store. McKee appointed those who were still reasonably sober to sit on the doorsteps of nearby homes to prevent any further harassment.  

This beautiful stand of birch trees clustered near the edge of a farm field was definitely another contender for the "most interesting person/place/thing" contest. It might not look like much in a simple photograph but it caught all of our attention as we drove by on that bumpy dirt road.  So did the gigantic flock of wild turkeys that we passed a few miles down the road but since we see those all the time near our home in Milford we did not stop to enroll the turkeys in our contest with a photo.  

Wild turkeys are not the only thing that Milford and Leonard have in common. We were surprised to find that both villages are adjacent to 4,000 acre automobile test tracks.  The General Motors Proving Grounds is a mile away from our house in Milford and east of Leonard, just across the Macomb county line is the Michigan Proving Grounds where Ford tests its vehicles.  

It's easy to forget how impressive these facilities are because there is really not much to see from the outside looking in.  In the seven mile drive around the perimeter of either the Ford or GM test tracks you'll be lucky to sneak a peak of anything behind the tall barbed wire fences besides a thick row of evergreen trees - and this is by design. "Spy" photography of prototype cars that have yet to be revealed to the market place is a very real threat and the automakers take great precautions to prevent such leaks including camouflaging test cars with full body covers with zebra-like stripes to fool the eye into what really lies beneath.   Aerial photographs give a much better view of these facilities.  

Michigan Proving Grounds (Ford)

GM Proving Grounds, Milford, Michigan

While the Michigan Proving grounds was impressive, it did not win the contest for the most interesting person, place or thing spotted on our day-trip. That prize goes to this:

Our winner!

"What is it?" Good question!  The truth is I have no idea. It was a gigantic, frozen tower of water spotted in the front of a barnyard.  At first I thought it was a pond fountain that froze over but there was no pond...only grass.  My next thought was a burst hydrant that spewed water high into the cold night air then froze solid before anyone realized what had happened.  Or perhaps it was a man-made ice oddity designed purposefully to capture our attention as we drove by.  I'd like to hear what you think! Leave me a comment below if you know how (and why!) this ice sculpture was created. Man-made or mistake - either way I think it's pretty nifty.  

As I write this blog it's worth noting that most trips to little Leonard, Michigan would not be complete without a trip to Addison Oaks.  In fact, when I went on line to research Leonard prior to our first day-trip, Addison Oaks county park was the first thing that came up in my Google search results.   It has 1,140 acres of  hiking, biking and ski trails, 24-hole disc golf course and a beautiful sandy beach and is a few miles southwest of Leonard.  It's actually closer to the even tinier Lakeville, Michigan. We decided that it wasn't important to see the most popular attractions in each city we visit but instead to travel without a set-agenda and go where the winds blew us.  We did go to nearby Lakeville, Michigan on our way back home but we decided to stop and eat at a quaint, lakeside bar and left exploring Addison Oaks for another day. 

The Lakeville Inn

February is probably not the best time to experience a lakeside bar with a roof top patio but we were pleasantly surprised by our choice of restaurants.  The building itself is very old and the decor is full of vintage charm.  We were greeted at the entrance by these wonderful old Johnson & Evinrude outboard motors. 

  

I climbed up to the second floor balcony to take this shot of Mitch and Emma at our table down below. 

Here is a close up of the license plate map of the USA that was behind us on the wall:

The place was filled with vintage items and had a backwoods feel which was very warm and cozy. I don't think this guy is native to Lakeville, Michigan though!

We sampled a rib appetizer and the BBQ sauce was very yummy...more of a St. Louis style sauce - a little spicy and not so smokey.  We had the all-you-can-eat fish n'chips special that night and were both pleasantly surprised.  It was a very nice way to end our first Oakland County day-trip!

Emma & Kelly outside the Lakeville Inn

I hope you enjoyed tagging along with us!  The fun part about going back home was running to the computer to let the random number generator pick our next destination.  

Coming up next time ...(drum roll please!)... is......

Franklin, Michigan!

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