MICHIGAN GHOST TOWN: The Old Lumber Town of Spruce, Alcona County

On the northern border of Alcona County - just below the border of Alpena County - lies the village of Spruce in Caledonia Township. These days, Spruce is considered to be a 'ghost town' even though there are still a handful of residents...but it's a shell of it's former, prosperous self when it was one of Michigan's lumber towns.

Spruce began as a lumber town back in 1898 when a sawmill was erected by Don Hecox, who also was Spruce's first postmaster. As with most northern Michigan small towns, it declined once the timber became depleted.

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Spruce is currently an unincorporated community approximately three miles west of US-23. Many of the town's old original buildings are still standing - some deserted, some being used for other purposes.

If you visited that area in the past, you may recall statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox near Spruce near F-41.....they have been removed and sent to Ossineke a few miles north (SEE PHOTOS BELOW).

Take a drive-thru on your next Michigan roadtrip.....it's another opportunity to see an old-fashioned Michigan, the way it used to be.