MICHIGAN GHOST TOWN: Rawsonville, Buried Underwater

Michigan has it’s own underwater ghost town…the original village of Rawsonville…and it’s not far away.

On the south side of I-94, across from Willow Run airport, the old ruins of the original Rawsonville lie beneath Belleville Lake, a man-made subsidiary of the Huron River.

Rawsonville was founded in the 1830’s and began it’s boom during the Civil War…by the late 1880’s, it’s businesses were failing thanks to a failed railroad service. People deserted the town.

Then in 1925, Detroit Ed built the French Landing hydroelectric dam, which wound up flooding the whole town, where it still lies underneath a man-made lake to this day.

The newer, rebuilt Rawsonville is located down Rawsonville Road and South Grove Street; the old Rawsonville village location is marked by an historical marker, found smack dab in front of the local McDonald’s, where the old town’s remains are submerged in the lake BEHIND McDonald’s. Sawmills, grist mills, factories, general stores, saloons.....ALL BURIED UNDER BELLEVILLE LAKE.

It’s not so far…take a little roadtrip over there and check it out for yourself!