Great Lakes Cities

[benp]

Here is an image of Buffalo's lake front. The entire lake front at one time was part of the Port of Buffalo, entirely filled with docks and slips. The far left, with the windmills, was formerly Bethlehem Steel with slips for coal and ore boats. The green area (now a nature preserve) was filled with slips for transition to railroad lines and where boats would winter. Further center and to the right were additional slips and piers for the cargo boats. The remains of a former Ford Assembly plant are still there, with one building now converted to an amphitheater. To the far right (now where Erie Basin Marina and Canalside are) were coal and bulk transfer points, and the entrance to the Buffalo River.


Buffalo From the Air by bpawlik, on Flickr

The mouth of the Buffalo River was the transition to the Erie Canal, as well as supporting industries along the Buffalo River several miles up to the foreground, including multiple grain elevators (some still active), shipyards, Republic Steel, Mobil refinery, and other chemical plants and industries. The Buffalo River was also where many boats would winter. You can see the newer Tesla plan on former Republic Steel land at the river bend top center. Like the Cuyahoga, the Buffalo River also started on fire many times back in the day. Today it has completed many years of dredging, cleanup, and habitat restoration, and although some commercial shipping remains it now has large recreational use as part of the Buffalo Blue Way.

Not in the picture, but further downstream on the Niagara boats would enter the Black Rock Channel and serve industries just north of Buffalo in Tonawanda, which included chemical plants, coal delivery to the Huntley power station, as well as foundries and other dirty industries supporting local auto manufacturing (GM is still there).

[Velvet_Highground]

In a lot of ways Buffalo's waterfront revival has been one of the most exciting and most complete. Detroit's Riverwalk is great don't get me wrong but the Warehouse District arguably the birthplace of Techno was mostly demoed for the failed riverfront casino's project. There's been some really nice pics of a working waterfront that has had a lot of successful housing conversions in My Photos, if I recall correctly improved infrastructure.

The Uniroyal Site in Detroit is the project that famously keeps getting away the extensive pollution on site being the cause as the property at the foot of Grand Blvd & Jefferson is otherwise extremely desirable property across from Bell Isle. Expanding parkland at the end of the Riverwalk isn't a bad deal at all for the city it's a simple park that could be redeveloped in the future as things change.

About 1/3 of the site is getting capped to safely intomb toxic soil on site if say federal money were to become available in the future things are built to be somewhat flexible. The area across from Belle Isle is Detroit's Gold Coast neighborhood it doesn't compete with Chicago or Sidney but is a very wealthy area with a lot of architectural depth. There's a lot of the city's vacant land outside of some very of the city's most neighborhoods and urban renewal projects to the east of downtown.

It's why imo Stanton Yards is one of the most interesting projects aside from seeing coastland naturalized and open to the general public. The newly dubbed member of the "Villages" Little Village centered around Cadillac Blvd and Jefferson where Pewabic Pottery is located. The Church Renovation into an art space & community center with a skatepark is a great start.


https://detroit.urbanize.city/post/shepherd-open-first-exhibit-may-18


https://detroit.urbanize.city/post/shepherd-open-first-exhibit-may-18


https://www.homes.com/local-guide/detroit-mi/gold-coast-neighborhood/?dk=dvydttgxe9z64


https://feliciafullwood.com/blog/things-to-do-belle-isle-detroit


https://www.homes.com/local-guide/detroit-mi/gold-coast-neighborhood/?dk=dvydttgxe9z64


https://www.redfin.com/MI/Detroit/8162-E-Jefferson-Ave-48214/unit-8A/home/98383117


https://www.bedrockdetroit.com/property/200-walker/


https://www.architecturaldigest.com/stor...park-detroit-new-building-ducharme-place

[Velvet_Highground]

With temperatures pushing 100 and even higher heat index’s moving into the Great Lakes this week safe to say beach season is underway in the Southern Great Lakes. Any fellow beach bums out there? I like going to the Port Huron - Sarnia area Lakeport State Park specifically.

Sarnia - Lambton & the Grand Bend of Ontario has the nicest beaches in an hours drive of my place. Amazing rocks though on the Michigan side one of the most impressive places in all of the GL though it’s heavy on the horn coral not the most prestigious or “valuable”. Still working out the best way to turn Isle Royal Greenstone’s into art I’m happy with but it’s a relaxing hobby either way.

Have a few dozen of my own photos or more of hiking, camping and beach trips perhaps I’ll post them sometime in the general photography thread if the opportunity presents itself.

Sarnia Riverwalk

https://www.globalheroes.com/ontario-blue-coast-sarnia-lambton/

Lakeport State Park

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g8323425-d630605-Reviews-Lakeport_State_Park-Lakeport_Michigan.html

Some areas are sandy

https://www.awesomemitten.com/lake-huron-beaches/

Some stretches are rocky and if the water is high like a few years ago

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/explore-the-natural-wonders-of-lakeport-state-park-mi--35958497016914218/

This is the most common type of beach layers of sand and rock laid out by winter storms and the shifts between low and high water cycles

https://fastfoodclub.com/p/this-picturesque-lake-beach-in-michigan-looks-so-stunning-it-feels-like-the-ocean/?srsltid=AfmBOoq-RfjwyiwvIzSqpSVkaJ5LAEit9OuvlfLp4NT0BDlt2DW8Wuiz

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Velvet_Highground

Any fellow beach bums out there?

We just back from a long getaway weekend over in New Buffalo, MI.

Spent a couple days on the beach at Warren Dunes State Park.

It was glorious; one of my favorite places in the whole wide world.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

We just back from a long getaway weekend over in New Buffalo, MI.

Spent a couple days on the beach at Warren Dunes State Park.

It was glorious; one of my favorite places in the whole wide world.

Where's da photos? Or just one


Sounds like a relaxing time away

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Wigs

Where's da photos?

I only took pics with my mind.

Phones are a stupid thing to bring to the beach.

For a variety of reasons.

[PoshSteve]

Love the beach. I'm down at Edgewater Beach in Cleveland most weekends during the summer. It's really a jewel under the stewardship of the Metroparks. This heatwave now has all the beaches in NEO packed.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

I only took pics with my mind.

Phones are a stupid thing to bring to the beach.

For a variety of reasons.

Fair enough
You should do more family getaways. Chicago is great, but it's always good to recharge one's batteries and refresh your body and mind, and reconnect with nature. We live on a water planet after all

[Velvet_Highground]

Well if there’s a desire for camping trip photos on here then who am I to say no

Lake Bluff Arboretum

Largest Sequoia in Michigan planted in 1940

https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx


https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx


https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx

A sapling

https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx

The nearly extinct American Chestnut perhaps a descendent of one of the blight resistant trees found in Michigan. Angel Tree Sanctuary in Copemich I know is involved with the Sequoia having taken clones for a grow project.

https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx

The shit face grin says it all I really enjoyed myself

https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx


https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx


https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx


https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx

Pop’s still a beast as ever after biking Gottard Pass last summer for his 70th. On an E-Bike but from Bern past the Italian border him my mom and some friends from church.

https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx


https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx


https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx


https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx


https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx


https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx


https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx

Platte River Campground & environs Glen Arbor & Empire, MI

https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx

My favorite part of Michigan is you can always find a top notch beach that you can have all to yourself, even in the most popular National Parks. The main beach was busy and people would pass by on occasion. Having a beach like this to yourself to watch the sunset and stargaze amazing.

https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx


https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx


https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx


https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx


https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx


https://imgur.com/a/MYTVRSx

[iheartthed]

I didn't know there are sequoias in Michigan.

[Velvet_Highground]

The Morton Salt Company had a big salt works in Manistee they built a summer home just outside of town which is the Lake Bluff Arboretum. The same climate that makes for good wine, cherries and apples sequoias like. There’s been a push over the past few years to plant them across the LP. Muskegon & Detroit both have had plantings done by public and private individuals.

I bought a few seedlings last fall couple died 3 are doing well although I did keep them in an unheated sunroom to be safe. Right latitude around Detroit the CA OR border is the 8 Mile - Ill Wis border. Mold is what gets them in the east and the central GL region might not feel like it now but we have lower humidity in general during the summer and especially when winds come across the lakes.

There’s only 3 grown sequoia but once the place opened to the public there’s been work to spread the genes around Michigan incase forest fire or something harms the population in CA.

[Wigs]

Can't beat a Great Lakes summer, and many Buffalonians/Western NYers take full advantage of Buffalo's location on Lake Erie where it empties into the Niagara River

• Video Link

Recreated Erie Canal era (1820s) boat! Seneca Chief
My Dad and I saw this being constructed in the Canalside area of Buffalo on the riverfront a couple of years ago

• Video Link

[mrnyc]

my bro took some sunset picks of lake erie last month -- from vermilion just west of cleveland. i think you can see cedar point in the distance on the last one.

[Velvet_Highground]

Awesome Lake Erie pics mrnyc. Glad the heat broke today but man was the sky angry. Severe thunderstorms with winds of up to 80mph crossed the southern part of the state. I’m one of the 250,000 just in DTE’s service network that’s out of power. Estimated restoration date late Monday July 6th. Trying to watch the Buffalo videos but data is really slow, Buffalo - Niagara has arguably one of the best GL shorelines.

It hurts I’m a mile away from 12 and there’s power on over there. Didn’t actually get a bad storm at all in Farmington Hills the storms weakened and spread apart right as they passed over me. Stop 65mph at Metro, Dearborn may have had it the worst but there’s outages all the way down to the outskirts of Toledo & up to Flint.

Heard Three Rivers, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek and that area got hit the hardest heard talk of measured +80mph. There’s been a few rounds of severe storms this week not widespread but seems like just about every day and some nights we had isolated storms passing through.

[Docere]

Random/pointless facts of the day:

Western New York

Population: 2,800,878
Land area: 15107 sq miles / 39130 sq km
Density: 185 per sq mile / 71.5 per sq km

Southwestern Ontario

Population: 2,796,317
Land area: 14208 sq miles / 36797 sq km
Density: 197 per sq mile / 76 per sq km

[craigs]

Originally Posted by Docere

Random/pointless facts of the day:

Western New York

Population: 2,800,878
Land area: 15107 sq miles / 39130 sq km
Density: 185 per sq mile / 71.5 per sq km

Southwestern Ontario

Population: 2,796,317
Land area: 14208 sq miles / 36797 sq km
Density: 197 per sq mile / 76 per sq km

Is the first figure you are giving the 2017 estimate on Wikipedia's WNY page?

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by Docere

Random/pointless facts of the day:

Western New York

Population: 2,800,878
Land area: 15107 sq miles / 39130 sq km
Density: 185 per sq mile / 71.5 per sq km

Southwestern Ontario

Population: 2,796,317
Land area: 14208 sq miles / 36797 sq km
Density: 197 per sq mile / 76 per sq km

Interesting - SW Ontario feels significantly denser than West NY to me. Probably because it's so much more agriculturally focused. It's also split between 3 key metro areas and many smaller communities, vs. two larger metro areas dominating in WNY.

Also SW Ontario is growing rapidly unlike WNY, so there will be an increasing gap between the two moving forward.. and SWO likely historically was significantly less dense than WNY.

[Wigs]

The common definition of Western NY is 8 counties surrounding Buffalo.
They have a combined population of approximately 1,557,319
Buffalo is the county seat of Erie County which at ~954,236 makes up 61% of the total population of this 8 county region. Erie county peaked in population in 1970 at over 1.11 million.



A lot of folks from Greater Rochester consider themselves part of the Finger Lakes region of NY State.

[Razor]

Perhaps a little OT, but late last week I just came back from a little road trip to Montreal, and had a blast! Anyways, I know that it's been talked about before, but where would you place Montreal? Is it a Great Lakes city, more Eastern Seaboard, or on it's own straddling the two regions?

[MolsonExport]

I personally never felt that Montreal was a Great lakes City. Partly due to the distance geographically, and partly due to the distance culturally. It was always a river city. And the St. Laurent at Montreal is one powerful river.



yes, that is a humpback whale swimming near Montreal.

Montreal (and Quebec City) does its own thing, but it is closer to being an Eastern Seaboard city than a Great Lakes City.