The rain was still falling this morning, but should end by Saturday morning. With waves of 6-9 feet, Lake Superior is hammering the coast. Our plans for today were all inside; and, we only had to make one change, replacing Michigan Tech Mineral Museum with the Opera House in Calumet.
The Opera House, opening on March 20, 1900, has a lot of history. (The contained photos were taken in very little light and without a tripod. The area of the auditorium was so large that a flash was insufficient to get good photos.) It was the gathering point for the entire area. Tickets to events were so hard to get that a portion of the tickets were auctioned off to the highest bidder. The box seats carried a price of $25.
This theatre was one of the first municipal theatres in the country. It attracted the attention of some of America’s finest actors and actresses including Frank Morgan (famous for his roles in The Wizard of Oz), Douglas Fairbanks, Sr, Sarah Bernhardt, and Madame Helena Modjeska.
But the theatre was doomed and with the price of copper dropping sharply, in 1920, the theatre was turned into a motion picture house. As the copper mines closed and more and more people moved from the area, the end was near. In the early 1950’s, use of the theatre came to a standstill.
For almost 20 years the theatre gathered dust. In the early 1970’s the Summer Stock Theatre returned for a performance and continued to perform in the Opera House yearly. Slowly the theatre was reborn and in 1975 the auditorium was restored for the Calumet centennial. The exterior was restored in 1988-89.
As you can see, the theatre is now a very beautiful house. All of the restoration, past and ongoing, has been accomplished in a town of only 800 people. In its early years the Opera House could seat nearly 1200 people in its three levels. Now, due to its very steep layout, the third level is not used. (Cheryl can attest to the VERY, VERY steep angle!!) The theatre now seats close to 750 people, and holds 60-80 events a year.
Our other stop of the day was at the Carrousel Winery in South Range, MI. Basically, Carrousel is South Range since most of the other buildings in the town are vacant. The winery makes over 30 varieties of wine, ranging from semi- dry to sweet fruit wines. They also offer personal labels for all of their wines. So, if you want a T&C Wild Blueberry and don’t mind paying the labeling fee, you are in business.
Tomorrow we will be heading north to visit the Jampot and Eagle Harbor. ..yum-yum!
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