Marine City, Michigan + Sombra, Ontario + Fawn Island

flar · #1 Posted **Sep 15, 2008, 5:09 AM**

Marine City and Sombra are on opposite sides the St. Clair River. Marine City is a small city of 4600 and has many beautiful
Victorian homes. Sombra is a Victorian village of 500 with a small shopping area. There is a ferry service and international
border crossing between Sombra and Marine City. Fawn Island is an island of cottages nearby in the St. Clair River and is
accessible only by boat. There are no cars on Fawn Island.

The ferry...

...and the dock on the Canadian side:

Marine City, Michigan

Fawn Island

Sombra, Ontario

Top Of The Park · #2 Posted **Sep 15, 2008, 5:34 AM**

what an amazing group of older homes. great shots

dugdogmaster · #3 Posted **Sep 15, 2008, 5:42 AM**

Two wonderful little towns. I love the island too

clynnog · #4 Posted **Sep 15, 2008, 12:20 PM**

One of the few examples I can think of with border communities where the US border town looks more prosperous than its Canadian equivalent.

flar · #5 Posted **Sep 15, 2008, 2:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by clynnog

One of the few examples I can think of with border communities where the US border town looks more prosperous than its Canadian equivalent.

To be fair to Sombra, it's pretty good for a village of 500 and Marine City has ten times the population. This part of Ontario is lightly populated.

xzmattzx · #6 Posted **Sep 15, 2008, 2:22 PM**

Great pictures. I've never heard of any of these three places. They are south of Detroit, correct? Marine City looks really nice, and it has a lot of Ontario architectural influence, in my opinion. I even see a little bit of Western New York. Seeing little reminders of Western New York reminds me that even though there are 2 whole states separating New York and Michigans, and you have to curl around the bottom of Lake Erie, only one province separates the two states, and the line is more direct, so each state's influence doesn't have quite as far to go as it looks like it does on U.S.-only maps.

OhioGuy · #7 Posted **Sep 15, 2008, 3:35 PM**

Looks reasonably good. The island looks like a pleasant place to spend a summer weekend.

10101000 · #8 Posted **Sep 15, 2008, 3:40 PM**

Awesome!

Evergrey · #9 Posted **Sep 15, 2008, 4:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by clynnog

One of the few examples I can think of with border communities where the US border town looks more prosperous than its Canadian equivalent.

agreed... very pleasant pics, Flar! you are the master of so many styles of settlements

Thundertubs · #10 Posted **Sep 15, 2008, 4:49 PM**

I like Midwestern beach communities.

denveraztec · #11 Posted **Sep 15, 2008, 4:56 PM**

Fantastic homes and great shots! So good to see so many in excellent conditions.

DC83 · #12 Posted **Sep 15, 2008, 5:25 PM**

Interesting places!

I would love to have a cottage on an Island like that!

Great shots, Flar!

ColDayMan · #13 Posted **Sep 16, 2008, 12:24 AM**

Thanks!

flar · #14 Posted **Sep 16, 2008, 2:21 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Great pictures. I've never heard of any of these three places. They are south of Detroit, correct? Marine City looks really nice, and it has a lot of Ontario architectural influence, in my opinion. I even see a little bit of Western New York. Seeing little reminders of Western New York reminds me that even though there are 2 whole states separating New York and Michigans, and you have to curl around the bottom of Lake Erie, only one province separates the two states, and the line is more direct, so each state's influence doesn't have quite as far to go as it looks like it does on U.S.-only maps.

This is just a bit northeast of Detroit, basically on the other side of Lake St. Clair.

I think Marine City's downtown looks similar to Ontario downtowns. But you don't see a lot of the elaborate wooden Victorians in Ontario. There are a lot more wood frame houses in the parts of Ontario bordering Michigan than in the rest of southern Ontario, but generally the large homes in most Ontario towns are brick. It's fairly rare to see big wooden Victorians in Ontario (a strange exception is Hamilton Beach, strange because Hamilton is brick). There are lots of huge wooden Victorians all along the American side of the St. Clair River (see Port Huron). In that sense, it seems Michigan influenced the architecture in nearby places like Sarnia and Wallaceburg where wood frame houses predominate. Still, the Michigan examples are much grander. There are a bunch of these in the Niagara Falls and Buffalo area too.

Sarnia example:

Wallaceburg example:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evergrey

agreed... very pleasant pics, Flar! you are the master of so many styles of settlements

Fawn Island was my first tour where boat was the mode of transportation!

TinChelseaNYC · #15 Posted **Sep 16, 2008, 2:49 AM**

How do you find these places? You keep coming up with one after another. It's nice to see so many of those big old beauties being well maintained in Marine City. It can't be cheap to keep up one of those houses! It looks prosperous.

LMich · #16 Posted **Sep 16, 2008, 6:53 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Great pictures. I've never heard of any of these three places. They are south of Detroit, correct? Marine City looks really nice, and it has a lot of Ontario architectural influence, in my opinion. I even see a little bit of Western New York. Seeing little reminders of Western New York reminds me that even though there are 2 whole states separating New York and Michigans, and you have to curl around the bottom of Lake Erie, only one province separates the two states, and the line is more direct, so each state's influence doesn't have quite as far to go as it looks like it does on U.S.-only maps.

A big reason for this is that many of the original settlers of Michigan were New Yorkers and specifically Western New Yorkers who settled in the state when the Erie Canal was opened. Most didn't come through Ontario, though, they came along Lake Erie. It's why the accents of the two regions sound so similar. Heck, our capital city of Lansing was settled by New Yorkers from Lansing, New York.

xzmattzx · #17 Posted **Sep 16, 2008, 5:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LMich

A big reason for this is that many of the original settlers of Michigan were New Yorkers and specifically Western New Yorkers who settled in the state when the Erie Canal was opened. Most didn't come through Ontario, though, they came along Lake Erie. It's why the accents of the two regions sound so similar. Heck, our capital city of Lansing was settled by New Yorkers from Lansing, New York.

Interesting. I never knew that about Michigan or Lansing.

jodelli · #18 Posted **Sep 16, 2008, 11:20 PM**

That's a nice stretch of river between the St Clair Flats and Courtright. There used to be a little conservation area just north of Sombra that you could pull the boat into on the way to Lake Huron.

Swinefeld · #19 Posted **Sep 16, 2008, 11:50 PM**

Amazing. How do you keep finding places like these?

flar · #20 Posted **Sep 17, 2008, 3:07 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TinChelseaNYC

How do you find these places? You keep coming up with one after another.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swinefeld

Amazing. How do you keep finding places like these?

I know this area well, my family is from Sombra. I lived nearby in Wallaceburg, but spent a lot of time in Sombra during my childhood. My wife and I were married in the park jodelli is talking about, Branton Cundick Park. The boat launch is still there, and there's another park further up the river called Cathcart Park.