Traverse Bay Line – Photo Courtesy of Steven Kelsch, Grand Traverse Bay, USA, Then and Now
Ferry – Anderson dock, which was across from the public swimming beach. Photo courtesy of Mrs. Joe, Novak, Omena Michigan and Steven Kelsch, Grand Traverse Bay USA, Then and Now.
There are so many boats out on Omena Bay this summer. Everyone wants to be out on the water it seems. In years past, people also wanted to be out on the water, but few had boats. Instead, they crowded aboard ships like the MANISTIQUE, MARQUETTE, AND NORTHERN NO1, the Northport car ferry docked here at Omena’s Anderson Dock. This was a special charter, passengers only, and plenty of people showed up.
The men enjoying their watermelon below are not crew members but migrants, perhaps having arrived on that ship but not needed yet for picking so enjoying watermelon and cooling off instead.
The Smith orchards had 110 migrant families that returned to Omena year after year from Alabama to harvest their cherries. Perhaps these were some of those men.