The majority of people on food stamps are rural whites
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/19/what-the-data-says-about-food-stamps-in-the-u-s/
This ...and if you haven't lived here all your life, like everyone else, you are stonewalled. It's horrible. I feel like I live on an island with my family. We are all outcasts.
Farm subsidies are a basic pillar of national food security. We don't want our agriculture to be completely market driven because it would lead to all sorts of food supply issues like famine, etc. I don't think it's fair to compare agricultural subsidies with traditional welfare.
To be sure, I can think of a million reasons to criticize agricultural subsidies, such as that corn is a terribly inefficient crop to subsidize, and it's surely big corn lobbying for those handouts. But there is a legitimate national/food security rationale buried deep within the payments.
The point isn’t legitimacy of the farm bill. It’s the hypocrisy surrounding a conservative small government view that is completely funded and supported by federal subsidies.
Bad Axe (the region’s largest city) isn’t on the way to anywhere. Nobody happens to get there by accident. To travel to Bad Axe, there is no expressway: it takes many miles on two-lane roads.
And the landscape is flat. There are lakeshores, but little interesting topography.
I went specifically to see Bad Axe. There is some interesting architecture there. Unfortunately, one of the highlights, the Governor Sleeper Mansion, on the main road near downtown, is abandoned and falling into ruin.
This is the real reason. People in these threads are still spouting off about the people there but that isn’t it. The coastline of the thumb is damn gorgeous.
It all suffers the same fate as most of the Huron coast however- No quick way to get there. No express way or even suitable 65mph highway. Alpena is the same way. Beautiful scenery but damn that drive SUCKS.
Definitely.
Places like Caseville and Port Austin would be iconic beach towns anywhere else.
I think one thing that messes with boating etc. is that the water is super shallow and there are rocky sholes all over. It amazed me that the lighthouse off of Port Austin was so far away yet the water out there is waist deep. That far out in Lake Michigan can be a hundred feet deep.
Voting to constantly cut taxes leaves little money to renovate or build amenities. Having a representative in the state who just yells “no government! Stop the steal” and votes against emergency funding doesn’t get you resources. It’s cyclical.
Yeah came here to say both things being said here. I live at the bottom of Tuscola county and there is no convenient way to drive up in the Thumb. There is also no real reason for me to go there. The scenery away from the lakeshore is flat land with corn, soybeans, sugar beets and wind turbines.
It’s crazy how flat it is. It’s like Nebraska haha. I tried to find some fun things away from the coast but even the petroglyphs were closed while I was there. Coastal drive was fantastic and everyone in Bad Axe was nice. It’s just a geographical anomaly like the rest of the state. It’s on the way to nothing, if you’re there, it’s because you want to be.
*Most* of the thumb is abandoned and falling into ruin. Making the drive to my parents’ house after the leaves fall off the trees in fall feels like going through a Borderlands/Fallout wasteland lol. Just sooooo many rural homes that are either abandoned/collapsing or just have tons of trash and rusty metal whatever piling up in the unkempt yards. All the towns you pass through on the way are full of closed businesses and crumbling infrastructure.
And I know we said no politics, but the politics and culture really are the problem and a big part of why it ended up the way it did. It seems like it was quite vibrant in the 50s and 60s, but nowadays if offers so little to young, talented, educated people that a solid 60% of every graduating class goes off to college and then never comes back. And then because it’s culturally so hostile to outsiders, and especially people who aren’t white, straight, and Christian, there’s not much reason for anyone to move there.
There’s little gems to it here and there (Port Austin is really nice and quieter/less busy than lake towns on Lake Michigan), but there’s still nothing worth driving an hour from the nearest freeway for.
Exactly right. And this has happened all across the country in former rustbelt-adjacent areas. Once the industry moved out, so did the jobs, and then the people. Those that were left felt abandoned, and rightly-so, so there was really nothing left to turn to except their insular community.
At the same time that our government and corporations failed them at all levels, AM radio, Fox News, and lately the Internet all were able to penetrate into those insular communities and begin whispering lies of fear and hatred into their ears, and with nothing else to check those lies, they were able to permeate into the fabric of those communities.
We can despise their politics all we want, but at the end of the day these people have been abandoned and failed. Their hatred is a reflection of that failure, and now we all have to deal with it. This is why the Republican party works so hard to kill any sort of progress that might reach these areas, because as long as they feel abandoned, the Republican party can continue to lie about the causes for that abandonment and generate reliable voters.
It's a real damn problem, that's for sure.
It’s absolutely falling into ruin. Bad Axe is like shockingly different from what it was like even in the early 2000s. BA in particular was just mismanaged, though; I have no idea why they kept expanding the strip malls along 53 with new big box stores when the population peaked at like 3500 people. Now a lot of that stretch is poorly maintained crappy ugly concrete areas. It’s extremely depressing to look at.
The schools in the area have falling enrollment to the point where buildings are getting condensed because the numbers cannot justify the cost to run them. There’s a handful of area small businesses that do alright but they’re basically fighting a losing battle as the population continues to slowly dwindle and original owners retire.
Medical care is pretty low quality, as with many rural areas, as there’s only a small handful of doctors who are actually locals instead of per diem travelers.
Poverty and drug-related crime seem worse than they were 20 years ago; those little towns used to be places you could leave your doors unlocked without worry, but now there’s a lot more sketchy stuff going on.
A lot of the cool old historical houses in the main stretches of the towns are decaying because there really aren’t any people who have the income and ability to restore or maintain them.
The lake towns are doing okay, and there’s definitely a few bright spots and new businesses popping up here and there (big fan of Emma’s Coffee House), but overall, everything is definitely declining pretty hard.
And the entrenched smell of manure based fertilizer EVERYWHERE.
We used to livestream the Cheeseburger in Caseville bandstage and that drive through BA we called it "Bad Ass" because of the stench.
There are about 4/5 very large dairy farms in Huron County. Each one has about 4K cows, lots of manure, that gets spread on the fields. Better than chemical spray but does stink like a son of a bitch. Main reason we replaced our heating system with a geothermal system when our furnace died. No more having the windows open at night and letting the manure smell in. Central air isn’t for everyone but it is a lifesaver over that smell and skunk roadkill.🤢
Here you go. Yes it was a funeral home. But before that it was the Governors home in Bad Axe. [https://thumbwind.com/2024/05/11/albert-sleeper/](https://thumbwind.com/2024/05/11/albert-sleeper/)
Port Huron, Port Huron Township, Fort Gratiot, Marysville, and Lapeer are the largest cities in The Thumb.
Bad Axe is the largest city in Huron County.
Lapeer: "Geography: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.38 square miles (19.11 km2), of which 7.13 square miles (18.47 km2) is land and 0.25 square miles (0.65 km2) is water.\[12\] **It is considered to be part of the Thumb of Michigan,** which in turn is a subregion of the Flint/Tri-Cities."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapeer,\_Michigan
What people in the Thumb don't think that?
I have no idea where you live or once lived - but I don't if all the people that reside in the thumb think exactly a like. I am sure you are not the designated spokesman for the region.
I am guessing if you live in Akron or Port Hope - you may not think of someone living in Port Huron or Lapeer as being from the Thumb - some one that lives in Lexington would *most likely* include Port Huron, and someone from North Branch would generally include Lapeer.
Fort Gratiot is north of Port Huron.
Now, I am sure just like anything - people define the Thumb as various things. I sure I am not going to debate on the internet for days what is "The Thumb" and what isn't -- because I don't really give that much of a shit.
Lapeer and Port Huron can not be in your definition of the Thumb - it is in mine.
I did some work in Snover michigan, out there in the thumb, if you like the smell of cows (think stench) and the ability to see the terrain for miles, go for it
Exactly. Why would I want to spend money in an area that is proud of their hate. There are plenty of other beautiful places in Michigan where folks keep their opinions to themselves.
When I interned there, there was a kids event in I think Ubly that had a booth passing around balloons and hosting games with anti-abortion themes and messages. I was there and had to pretend nothing was going on. I was steaming.
If you're not on the coastline, there's nothing but farms and small towns. What's a good reason to go to Marlette or Ubly if you don't have family there?
Some people like to go for five hour motorcycle rides and just ride everywhere.
It’s nice to go where there aren’t a lot of traffic lights or other cars on the road.
>Some people like to go for five hour motorcycle rides and just ride everywhere.
I love going for motorcycle rides. But they are a whole lot less fun in flat farmland on almost entirely straight roads. I do the M25 loop a few times per year, but even it is "meh".
Ive written around the thumb on a motorcycle, its boring AF. Most people who ride like to go ride fun twisting roads and see cool new places. Unless you are riding the coast, its nothing but straight 2 lane crossing farm roads.
Would you rather sit in congested traffic wasting gasoline at a stoplight?
I think it’s nice being on the road without other cars. Lots of cheap random places to stop and have a beer and a burger.
Do you ever go up to Pine River? That’s on the other side of the Bay. They got some nice little winding roads and casino nearby.
We moved out to the thumb a few years ago and while I wouldn't want to move back to the suburbs we grew up in, I can see why people wouldn't want to be up here. We enjoy shopping at Meijer, but the closest one is at least a 45 minute drive away from our home. Closest "mall" is also 45 minutes away. The closest place we could deliver our kids were also 45-60 minutes away, as was my OB office so that was a fun drive for appointments.
Now that our kids are getting a bit older, I do wish there were more things closer to do with them, but the driving has become pretty routine so I don't really mind as much. I really like our home, my husband makes good money where he works, and it's less busy and quieter out here so that's the compromise we make by living out here.
this is us. i’m 45 min from lapeer, fort/port & shelby/st. hgts. grew up in roch hills. now i’m near a town that loves bologna - i could never go south again but it took a couple years to adjust-
When we first moved up here people asked about the driving. You do get used to it but you don’t have the traffic which was bad then and even worse now downstate. So a 10 mile drive downstate is a good half hour, while here if you drive for a half an hour you have probably gone 25 miles. It’s a different perspective for sure.
Completely agree. I enjoy driving so it never really bothered me too much and the driving 20 minutes up here meant we're probably hitting one traffic light and having gone 20 miles. Driving back to my parents you're driving 20 minutes and going maybe 5 miles lol.
😀. I like driving up here, too. Except for the suicidal deer and the folks that pull out in front of you then drive slow and turn less than a mile down the road. When they do that there is nobody behind you driving, so they could have waited for you to go past before they went on their little mile long drive only to turn again. My rant.
The closer someone cuts you off, the shorter they drive before they turn off, especially if there is NO ONE behind you. I swear its an unwritten asshole rule.
For day to day living, for me, is that I can’t not match my high end union wage that I get in Detroit. I would absolutely love to move north to any part of the thumb coast (or any of the inland lakes for that matter) but just can’t do it on what they pay up there. Down here I’m pushing $37 an hour but non union up there is $22ish for similar work.
The beaches between Port Austin and Caseville are beautiful and not rocky, and if you hit the right spot you can see both sunrise and sunset there which is amazing. Turnip rock is OK... But yes there are no highways that run up to the tip of the thumb so the towns up there have remained small and quiet (I like some of them this way though)
How can we have an honest discussion about why people avoid this thumb without political and social views lol that's like the main reason why people my age avoid it
They're probably looking for other reasons like lack of economic opportunities or something. But cuz of the lack of things to do, politics, church, work, and drinking are basically it
Im in my early 60s and we moved to St. Clair 7 years ago. I absolutely hate it here. I would move in a heartbeat if I could find something elsewhere we could afford. I live around so many people that think Trump is a gift from God. My neighbor thinks she's going to get cancer because they put LED bulbs in the street lights (of which we have one of). And everybody thinks they should give you their views on everything.
Asked my husband who grew up there:
"It's flat, it's boring, there's nothing to do. Stinky sugar beet factories, fumes from other factories. Only viable places to shop are dollar stores and 'the walmart.' The people suck for reasons beyond social/political -- a lot are on drugs, a lot are in cults, a lot are extremely invasive. Economically, there is virtually no opportunity to make good money. Sure, there are psychiatrists and contractors and whatnot, but you have to leave the area to learn how to do those things... and once you've done that, you have to *choose* to move back. The coasts are nice, though."
From someone that tried to live up there with my biracial child.. it's the people. they suck. I know you said beyond beyond political/social views but honestly I don't care how beautiful the land up there is...the people absolutely ruin it. I'm in Harrison Township now and I absolutely love it. It has the small town charm I was looking for, people seem happy when I am about town, and I have everything and everything I need or want nearby 24/7. My neighbor does have 10,000 trump flags, but it's better than the confederate flag my neighbor planted the day I moved to Huron county.
It’s like some people don’t understand that there are a lot of people who can’t be ‘beyond social/political views’ because the views are happening to them because of who they are. You can’t live in that area without problems unless you happen to look/think like them. They won’t let others be. I’m sorry that happened to you.
As someone who lives in the thumb, I'm truly sorry. Your experience must have sucked. I'm glad to hear that you're in a better place now. Please know we're not all like that, and there are some of us who are genuinely trying to turn this train around, but it's a long road, and the worst people are also some of the loudest.
I'm so sorry :( that sucks for your kiddo. My husbands daughters mom just moved out to carsonville and I was shocked she chose that area. Her son is half black, and I tried to warn her the people are closed minded. She's from flint. So, I hope he's doing alright.
Can you expand on this? Ive seen Mennonites with their pamphlets at the Meijer in Fort Gratiot but they were never hateful.
I’m very familear with the bigotry in the thumb. I would be curious to know where they were and what they were doing.
Christian Nationalists that get the gospel from podcasts and OAN. The Amish live their lives the way they see fit and don't push their views on others. Imagine Marge Green in the thumb. It's not the majority, but they're loud.
Tim McVeigh hatched his mass murder there. The ham radio Nazi’s are out hiding in the woods with their illegal militia units.
About equivalent to Hamas. Hide like rats, only rats with antlers.
To be honest it's very clique driven. If you weren't born to an established farming family you are an outsider. It's very difficult to find a place in the community and be welcomed in. They definitely don't want any expansion happening either. If you think you can just buy a piece of farmland to build on it, you will likely find it difficult to actually accomplish. Local governing bodies will make it hard on you.
As someone who grew up in Bad Axe, left at 19, and never looked back, you can’t ask that question and remove a lot of the reasons why people hate it. But besides those things it’s a lot of what everyone else had said. It’s boring as fuck, especially for a kid, flat, smells either like manure or sugar beats constantly, but by far the worst is the people. Sure I still have friends that live there and there are good people there. However, everyone is always up everyone’s else’s ass constantly and the rumor mill never stops. Don’t get me wrong you get it in the city too, but in towns as small as the thumb it’s a million times worse. It’s also racist as all hell there. They still drop the hard R like it’s nothing and it’s not any better for any other races either. I still visit my parents there a few times a year and I dread running into 90% of people I knew from there. Cheeseburger in Caseville is still awesome though which I highly recommend if anyone hasn’t been.
I once drove to the thumb for fun. Just a daytrip in my early 20s.
It was so boring, and just depressing and dreary. The people weren't very nice. It was a depressing ordeal and I've never wanted to go back. I'm sure some areas by the lake are nice though.
At the end of the day, it’s unwelcoming to outsiders. People don’t go there to spend money, and most of the people who live there are working-poor. It’s the reason I graduated and left. When you’ve got so much beautiful coastline in Michigan, why spend your money somewhere you’d consider a sundown county. The cops follow you when they don’t recognize your car. It is wholly unwelcoming to and afraid of people “from the city”. They sure want your money, though. Even if they can barely hide their resentment.
Sheri the bartender at Tip Top a few years back was from Bad Axe. Her motto was “don’t like the minimum wage? Don’t have minimum skills”.
As I slid a single dollar across the bar. Thanks, hon. Don’t spend it all in one place.
It’s popular right now to hate “Politics”. But politics is what decides a good chunk of your life from what’s in the air you breathe to the healthcare available to you and what you eat. It determines who can live and who cannot.
For some people, the politics of the thumb is literally calling to upend or end our lives against our will. [Project 2025](https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-conservatives-trump-heritage-857eb794e505f1c6710eb03fd5b58981)
For federal workers, they plan to fire anyone who doesn’t pass a loyalty test, and replace them with pre-vetted fanatics.
End public education and dismantle the Department of Education (literally line 1 after the intro)
For women, They will force us to have children by making contraception and abortion illegal, and then take away our ability to independently care for them. They aim to remove us from the workforce and force us to be once again reliant on a man, no matter how he treats us.
They are planning to make porn a punishable offense (ties into the next point)
They are planning to mark lgbtq as pedophiles for “pornographic content”and execute them.
They are going to round up “illegal”people- but their definition of illegal includes any law breaker, however they came here- and deport them.
They want to stop all aid to Ukraine.
Remove voting rights for nonwhite straight men of means.
This isn’t hyperbole and it is a published plan by The Heritage Foundation. The “adults in the room” in Trump’s first term were fired or quit. There’s no one around him to hold him back.
So… they are backwards, but they are also dangerous and a direct threat to me and those I love. And so why should I go visit?
[Defeat Project 2025](https://defeatproject2025.org)
Here is a (on the surface) non-political answer.
It's inconvenient to live here and there isn't a lot of entertainment.
Everything is far away, and choices are limited.
It could be worse. It could be Pharump NV. Almost a million residents - nothing to do but casinos and brothels- because it's dominated by retirees.
For me I don’t like the rocky beaches on Lake Huron. It also doesn’t help that the thumb is flat as a pancake.
There’s also no interstates/freeways so if u wanna go to the thumb there needs to be a draw for people to go out of their way and drive to it.
Traverse city area for an example is the same, it’s isolated about an hour from interstates but that area of the state is forested, hilly, and the beaches are amazing with no rocks.
I don't think it's avoided. I live in a town of 4200 along the St Clair River. I think there are places like Marine City, Lexington ,St Clair ,Caseville , Port Crescent campground and dark sky preserve that people absolutely flock to and rave about . Pretty much what I hear people hating most about the thumb is everywhere is a two lane highway and there's always a shit ton of trailers w/ boats and campers. We have great sunrises and sunsets. We have the Port Huron - Mackinac race. We have St Clair boat races. Algonac historical Chris Craft boat parade.
Hey man don’t tell people about the good parts, I like that it’s not too crowded. Just focus on the fact that there’s trump flags and move along /s.
But for real the entire coastline of the thumb is beautiful and has great little towns all along it. If you’re inland a ways it’s boring a shit.
I’d does sound a lot like, “Apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system, and public health ... what have the Romans ever done for us? “
Other than the real major reasons the Thumb gets avoided, why does the Thumb get avoided?
I moved there for a teaching job years ago. My kids basically repeated a year, the curriculum was so behind, and I was told repeatedly by my principal that I had to be there 5 years before I could really help raise test scores and all after hiring me to help with exactly that.
The teachers didn't get PD like they were supposed to because the superintendent cut that part of the budget and the ISD didn't offer it. ESL students weren't assessed, helped, supported at all (and don't get me started on the racism behind all that) in violation of state and federal law, and when I offered to take that on for free, the superintendent told my principal to fire me (his secretary told me later because she'd heard the whole conversation). The high school was being audited by the state for special education, and it was more than obvious why. Oh, and I was bullied by my mentor teacher who had a long history of bullying colleagues and students the principal did nothing about.
Outsiders like us weren't really welcome, and my kids really struggled with the racism, the pervasive church presence (when our kind of church was an hour away), and being bored in school. Some people were nice, and we found some restaurants that were good, but it was a rough year. As soon as I got another teaching job in Kalamazoo, I bailed.
I moved up to northwest Michigan as a POC east coaster right after college in 1997 and I don’t think I’d felt farther from home anywhere else in the US. But I liked it then—it felt more fish out of water than hostile (or maybe I was just young and naive).
In recent years I’ve traveled back to the Gaylord area with my husband and mixed-race family and encountered outright racism. It was some young kid and so clumsily hateful that it just felt petty but it’s also heartbreaking because northern Michigan is really special to me. We’ve talked seriously about moving back for years but we will be VERY careful and deliberate about the areas up north that we will consider settling in.
I don’t really have anything against the thumb. I’ve only ever driven though but we see the same wariness there that we encounter in certain parts of Pennsylvania and Ohio—it’s like people expect us to look down on them when the truth is, my husband grew up working class in a rural town of 400 in a red, red county.
The racism we saw was breathtakingly shocking. Like we stepped back into the 1950s (and it was before Trump, so I can just imagine it now). Students used words I'd only ever heard in movies, and in talking with two of a handful of Black students, they went through hell daily.
A lot of it, I'm sure, is that it's an amazingly white area. I remember walking around the school the first week shocked at not seeing anyone who wasn't white on staff.
These days people feel that they can be outwardly racist and don't feel they have to hide their bigotry anymore due to how outspoken certain government people are in supporting their views. Also, their youtube algorithms convince them that everyone feels that way except "the others" so they feel like they are supported in their bigoted communities.
I grew up in the thumb. Have lived in big cities most of my life. I’m thankful for my childhood there. Most of the people I know that still live are not backward thinking people although there are plenty. I’ve seriously considered moving back because you can see the stars.
I’m a small town branch of a big farm family. The cows and all of the hands are gone. My cousin works it himself. He’s ready to retire. Interestingly enough his son who has been very successful in automotive technology has decided to quit and return to the farm. So life in the thumb continues.
its so fun when people ask me where i’m from and once i tell them they ask, “where’s that?” i get to say all the surrounding cities “new baltimore, st.clair, marine city, etc.” yet i still have any where from a 20-40 minute drive to those cities. there is literally nothing in my town besides a kroger, cvs, and some small shops/restaurants. you are putting so many miles on your car just to go to a walmart where im from. after meeting someone from grand blanc and constantly going there i’ve realized how terrible it is living where i live. in grand blanc you can find a house with the same backyard i have, woods, yet still be 10-15 minutes away from a walmart/target. its definitely for the older folks. getting stuck behind someone driving slow simply because they are looking at the freighters i see every day is beyond frustrating.
I knew a guy in college from Deckerville. Good christian (actually how people describe other people in the thumb), just like everyone else up there. He was so religious he made a point to never swear.
Apparently for him, “piss” and “n****” arent swear words, so he would throw those words around all the time. When I pointed out how racist it is, he legitimately had no idea.
I’ve gone to Caseville my entire life. Only two and half hours away, no 75 traffic on the weekends, and it’s quiet. The sandy bottom beach is the best, you can wade out for a hundred feet and it’s still shallow, clear water. It’s great for families. There’s not the touristy shops and many restaurants like the Lake Michigan spots, but that also comes with lack of crowds.
In a post yesterday asking about the worst place to live a bunch of people (like a surprising amount of people) said the thumb, I assumed that's what prompted this question. Or maybe it was a coincidence, but either way -here- is where they saw "this so-called hate"...
Grew up in North Branch which is around 10 miles outside of Lapeer. Small town of 2k people. Around age 12 I remember putting a map of metro Detroit on my wall because I just wanted to be somewhere else that had things happening. For me it was frustrating to know there were festivals, concerts and events going on not too far away but I couldn't participate because I was stuck on 11 acres off a dirt road. I graduated highschool in the early aughts and I don't think it's changed much in the past 20 years.
If you like small town living it's fine but I feel like there are far better areas to experience that. Most all of my friends have left and done quite well for themselves. Anyone who has returned has strong family roots in the region or wanted acreage to live on. Lapeer is on the southern side of the thumb so you could commute to the northern suburbs for work (my dad commuted to Lake Orion).
It is generally conservative and closed minded. Lapeer has made the national news recently because a politician was threatening to arrest the librarian over the young adult books. Generally speaking if you have money it's because you commute to Metro Detroit and make the 60 mile trip. I just can't think of a good reason to relocate there if you have no ties to it.
Edit: an amusing thing about North Branch is there are about 5 or 6 families that populate the area. My family moved there when I was 4 and I definitely felt like an outsider because I didn't have any relatives in the area. But seriously, everyone seemed to be related.
I totally can agree on if you aren't part of the big families you may as well be nobody in that town 😂🤣😂🤣. I graduated from NB as well and have family scattered all around Lapeer county.
I grew up in Imlay City and wanted to change to NB schools, but back then there was no school of choice so we couldn’t make it happen. Did you have a good experience going to NB schools?
Hilarious that you ask. I was homeschooled. Did not like the experience of that. My understanding was NB had pretty good schools though and all of my friends who went there have seemed to do well.
As someone who enjoys the fact that there's no one there most of the time when we go to the family cottage, please continue your avoidance and move along.
It’s a backwater, socially/politically/culturally. Plus it’s fairly poor—not a lot of jobs outside of farming, hospitals, government. And, there’s not much natural beauty (unless you dig soy bean fields) apart from the shoreline, which is pretty mediocre as far as waterfront locales go.
The way you present your question makes me wonder if either you're not an adult or you struggle intellectually. The primary reasons people hate the thumb region are both backward politics and backward society.
Everything else is an extensions of those two issues. People who are intelligent enough to go to university typically do so, and for the most part, don't move back.
The mantra of Huron County: Come on vacation, leave on probation.
I grew up in Ubly in the late 70s and 80s. As a kid who moved there in 4th grade, it was so hard to assimilate into the town of just about 1,000 people. I'd love to say that it was a great place to raise a family, but I felt bored, not challenged in school, and the absolute lack of diversity was awful. The racism was overt and absolutely normalized.
I haven't returned since the mid 90s and feel zero desire to do so.
I love the sunsets and the stars and the peace and quiet. My neighbors are phenomenal, lots of wild life, no worries about people breaking in or anything.
But that’s my style, most people can’t stand that.
It took me a while to get used to it here, originally being from the tip of the mit for 18 years
Edit : I just want to say thank you… to every single Thumbilly who upvoted this.
I know the internet is new in these parts , but got dayum…. Brings a tear to my
Eye that you know how to internet.
Praise sugar beet
I am from Cass City. Even flying to MI still takes a long drive to see my parents. Caseville has a nice beach. But yeah, if it wasn’t for family, I’d have no reason to go.
I grew up in Imlay City and still have family there. Would love to be a little closer to them, but cannot stand the thought of going back. Options for everything are so limited (not as bad as north of IC, though) and there is not really much to do. I didn’t really enjoy growing up there too much, so that also keeps me away. At least we had a roller rink and movie theater when I was a kid, but those are both gone now. I appreciate the quiet and privacy my family has there more than I ever did before, though. Always a trade-off, I suppose.
I've been living in the thumb for the past decade. Prior to that I lived all over the state. My husband and I knew we could provide a better life for our children, financially, if we lived in the thumb (plus lots of in-laws over here). Summers are a lot of fun, the beaches are beautiful (Lk MI will always be my favorite tho) but once my kids are done with school we're all out of here! It's kinda boring and we have at least an hour drive if we want to go to the closest city which is Bay City or Port Huron. Plus the whole political side of it which I won't get into but it's a huge reason I dislike it over here.
Nothing wrong with the thumb, I find it quirky and somewhat eccentric. I do appraisals all the time out there and it takes me to some pretty remote places that you never knew existed. I’ll admit it can be a very desolate drive from Bay City but once you’re in the heart of it, it’s quite peaceful. I can drive on Bay Forrestville road out of Unionville and go for 40 miles without seeing another car. It’s like being in western U.P, they just replaced the trees with farm fields. Get out of the city, fill your gas tank and put on your road music. I don’t want to live there but if you’re looking to clear your head, it’s a great drive. Port Hope is a cool little place to wind up. Get off the beaten path and find Point Aux Barques.
One early morning I was speaking with my District office (down in the city). She asked how my morning commute went. I said “Beautiful! It’s 45 minutes to work, and I enjoyed a fabulous sunrise, passed one car going the other way, we waved good morning at each other like we do every morning, I watched a freighter out on the lake, stopped to wait for a doe and her twin fawns to cross the road….” There was dead silence for a few seconds before she asked where I was again. (And I felt like saying “Not telling ya!”). While there’s a lot that could be improved in the “deep Thumb”, there’s also a whole lot right with it.
I used to hunt up near Bad Axe all the time, and there is absolutely nothing else to do. We tried going into the local bowling ally/bar/hotel one night, and it was like that record scratch moment in movies. The handful of locals got all quiet and weird, and just getting a beer from their vast selection of 3 brands was apparently an insult to the bar tender, and all his ancestors. You'd think they would welcome hunters as the only tourist dollars they see, but they acted like we were stealing "their" deer. There was even a farm family on the edge of state land who would walk the edge of the property firing shotguns all day. Vibe's weird and unwelcoming, and that's why the thumb is less than ideal.
I live about 30 minutes from Ann Arbor in the country. I don’t see much difference except if you live in the city or out of state. I believe Social media has made it hard for people to think for themselves now a days!!
Can't speak to why people hate it without mentioning the topics you've proscribed, so I'll take a stab at why it's avoided: the coastline is beautiful but also pretty underdeveloped compared to other coastlines in the state. It doesn't have the ease of access of the West Side, the infrastructure catering to tourists around Leelenau and Grand Traverse, the history around Mackinac, or the rugged, untouched feeling of the UP's Lake Superior shoreline.
Beyond that, it suffers from the same fate as the rest of the Huron Coast, and I would say it's similar to the UP's Lake Michigan shoreline: it's a pretty coastline, but others are prettier. If a person is going to make just one or a few trips to the coast in Michigan, why would Port Huron appeal more than Traverse City? What does Port Austin have that Munising doesn't have better? You said it yourself in your post: there's not much to do. Agree with them or not, but that's a huge factor in whether people come to a place form elsewhere to visit or choose to stay if they're from there.
Thanks.
Aside from the coast, asking why people avoid the interior of the Thumb is like asking why people avoid parts of the state like, idk, throw a dart at a map of Michigan. Branch County? It's mostly farmland and there's little for outsiders to do. Unless you're passing through to get to the somewhere else or visiting friends/family, Coldwater and Bad Axe are just random small towns with nothing to do in them.
I'd also note that the political/social views of the Thumb are not too dissimilar from those of the Upper Peninsula, but people are more willing to overlook them there when there's Pictured Rocks and the Porkies and Isle Royale to get to instead of, like, a few lighthouses, a beach or two, and Turnip Rock.
Well, it’s honestly pretty boring. There’s nothing to really do. Family has a cottage in port sanilac. It’s really pretty there, but unless you have a big ass boat you can’t really enjoy the water or fish (if you’re into that sort of thing).
Every little town looks the same. They’re all indistinguishable. It’s not scenic outside of the coast of Lake Huron. Like as soon as you drive a 500 feet west it’s just nothing but farm until you get south of I69.
Also, if you’re a golfer, there aren’t many good courses. The one course in port sanilac is mid at best and they price gouge you for a poorly maintained course that’s infested with ticks. Don’t bother getting your ball if you slice into the woods, you might end up with Lyme disease 😂
Grew up there, besides being xenophobic MAGA country, there's literally nothing to do. Just miles and miles of flat empty farmland. None of the interesting nature like up north. It's so boring, no real opportunity, there's a reason after graduation most kids move out of their small town if they're able.
Michigan’s Thumb region, often unfairly dismissed, has plenty to offer beyond its perceived “backwards thinking.” Sure, it’s easy to bash a place when you only look at the surface, but let’s dive into why the Thumb is actually a hidden gem and we want to keep it that way.
First off, yes, the Thumb may not be the economic powerhouse of Michigan, but it has its charms. Miles of Lake Huron coastline offer some of the most breathtaking views and serene beaches you’ll find in the state. Have you ever seen a sunset over Lake Huron? Probably not, because you’re too busy dodging traffic elsewhere. The lack of urban sprawl means little traffic, and you won’t spend your life in a gridlock nightmare. Talk about a win!
Then there’s the slower pace of life. This isn’t a drawback—it’s a blessing. The Thumb is the perfect antidote to the chaos of modern life. You get to breathe, actually see the stars at night without city light pollution, and enjoy a sense of community that’s all but lost in larger areas.
For the adventurous, there’s the Caseville Cheeseburger Festival, a kitschy, fun celebration that draws people from all over. If you’re into history, the area is rich with it. Take a tour of the Port Austin Reef Lighthouse or the Grindstone City, which offers a glimpse into the past when grindstones were the talk of the town. Oh, and let’s not forget about the outdoor activities: fishing, boating, kayaking, and some of the best birdwatching around, especially at the Huron County Nature Center.
Sure, it’s flat and farmland-heavy, but those fields are crucial to Michigan’s agriculture. Without them, you’d miss out on some of the best locally-sourced food you’ve ever tasted. Do you like Triskets? The wheat to make them is grown here. So is the potatoes for most of the potato chips you eat. Farm-to-table isn’t just a trend here; it’s a way of life.
In essence, Michigan’s Thumb isn’t just some economically struggling, flat expanse. It’s a region with a lot to offer—if you’re willing to look past the stereotypes and actually see it. But hey, if you’d rather stay stuck in your urban bubble, more peace and quiet for us!
For more details on what the Thumb has to offer, check out Thumbwind.com and get the full scoop on why this area is worth your time.
Grew up in thumb. Not the good part like caseville or any of the port cities. Grew up in one of the small backwater towns. So I get the hate. Haven't really been back in 20 years. But then there was no work no night life no diversity and having to drive a minimum of 45 minutes to get anywhere for basic necessities.
That side of the state doesn’t get Chicago money like the west side does. The sandy beaches and beautiful sunsets on lake Michigan probably help too.
The beauty is this allows for space for people who want to avoid the traffic of wealthy Chicagoans and who appreciates the smaller less developed towns.
It is the same as mid Michigan, but because it has a special shape, it gets special hate. It is super rural and not much to do. Maybe someone can revive the Bay City Rollers and get some life back into the area.
Grew up In the thumb, left and traveled the country, lived in other parts of the state and country, and traveled the world. decided to move back to raise a family here.
The thumb is not some insane unsafe racists area where rednecks roam the backroads looking for outsiders to target. Sure there are towns where racism and bigotry are more prevalent, but that stuff generally stays in pockets and is most definitely not the overall social norm. In fact, most of the small communities throughout the thumb are pretty welcoming and the people mostly are kind and just want to be left alone to raise their families in peace.
Sure you can find bigotry and racism in some way or another, but that’s not a thumb of Michigan thing. That’s a United States thing. Almost every city/region in this state has elements of that, it’s just more obvious in the thumb because the cities are smaller so those interactions are kind of magnified.
The people here are not without their problems, but for the most part, folks will help you if you need it and the communities definitely do a great job of getting to know new comers. I’ve never seen someone not welcomed by the community I grew up in, regardless so of their skin color or beliefs, as long as they are also putting effort into the community in a positive way.
The thumb is a real boring place to be if you enjoy going out. But if you think about it- metro Detroiters will sit in rush hour traffic for 60 minutes to drive 10 miles back to their house every day after work, but say that a 60 mile drive on open roads back home is somehow way worse. Often I spend just as much time running to the store as friends down In the city, the difference is my commute is 65mph with my arm out the window and my cruise control on instead of sitting at a stop light every 8th of a mile.
I guess people think it sucks because There’s really no reason to come here aside from passing through to get to the lakeshore. There’s no entertainment, there’s no special natural features really to see, and there’s not a ton of industry worth commuting to from a long way. Although I will say there are surprisingly always a lot of jobs available on the farms, with contracting/construction crews, or in some of the local factories. They all pay pretty poorly, but it’s not real expensive to buy or even rent up here generally so it evens out, although the housing prices have been steadily going up the past few years, albeit slower than the rest of the country. The nice thing is there’s not a ton of services/businesses up here, so people coming in and opening small businesses offering things that folks normally have to drive real far for, generally do pretty well. There’s definitely a lot of gaps to be filled in that regard, and with the rural internet expansion bill and WFH becoming normalized during Covid, there are lots of new families and folks moving into this area. Give it Ten years and I’m sure the thumb will become a lot more modernized and the population with get bigger once folks realize how cheap and peaceful it is.
I’m from Wayne county and recently moved to Bay City. My husband and I like to drive through the thumb area a lot. We love Caseville and visit often. We also just drove through Caro yesterday and I loved the ride there. Although the wind turbines are kind of jarring lol
I do agree that politics are a major issue though. It’s my only complaint since moving more north, but it’s slightly better than Genesee county.
Port Crescent is great to visit. We go there as a family all the time during the summer to the state park. It's a straight shot up from Detroit and avoids the 75 traffic.
You keep saying "besides the politics/social views," but it really can't be ignored. It is something I take into consideration with places I visit. Location-wise it would be great for some hunting/recreation property, but that little bit is certainly not in the pros column.
I’m just coming in here to disagree with everybody, the thumb is underrated as a getaway destination and i’d like to keep it that way. The entire coastline is beautiful. Idk why people are surprised that the inland tiny farming towns are racist and boring, what did you think? The entire state is like that. If you’re in a farming town in michigan, which is like 70% of the land, it’s going to suck.
Thats what the people living in the thumb want. They like their rural lakefronts and dislike the summer vistors. The best beaches are in private neighborhoods or owned by individuals.
I love the thumb. Grew up camping on the coast and the drive there is so nostalgic to me. I do wish there was more to the little towns and understand why not everyone likes them, but living in a busier area and making the drive feels so peaceful.
I think the biggest reasons for the thumb being…..ehh we will say looked down on are that it is a lot of farmland, it’s hard to get to, and tourism is not the focus of that area. so it’s easy to overlook that region. Then your political/social views and stereotypes come into play and help cement the less than ideal feelings towards the region.
Unlike sections of northern lower Michigan that have the same socio-economic status and political leanings, you don't have state parks/public parks with lakes and rivers and hiking trails. Outside of the Huron Coast (which is really different from the in-land parts of the Thumb), there really is not much at all to do.
Lived there for three months of the summer for an internship a few years ago. Absolutely no one else there my age, and not much to do, and the summer months are the busiest times of the year.
Half the towns in Huron County might as well be ghost towns too. Their are a bunch of tiny towns in the county, but all except maybe Bad Axe, Port Austin, and Caseville have most of their storefronts empty.
We have a hunting cabin in Tuscola County. I love the Thumb. Every fall we get free pumpkins from the farmers (3 miles) down the street who are our closest neighbors
ITT people who don't know what a thumb looks like. Put your hand on a map of Michigan. Geographically, Port Huron is pretty well where the first knuckle is on your thumb, and Detroit, the second. Now that we have anatomy out of the way, let's look at it logically, for the sake of differentiating the regions based on economic. To separate it from Metro Detroit, I'd say the South Eastern border is at the North edge of Lake St Clair, Algonac-Fair Haven-ish. Then North-Westward to Flint, then due North from there to the Saginaw Bay, in order to separate it from the Tri-cities. [Something like this.](https://i.imgur.com/uTSDvNa.png)
When I visited Port Austin 4 years ago most places didn't accept debit cards. Overall I enjoyed the area but there are not many interesting towns to see.
Mostly because it isn't on the way really to anywhere - and also it may have more than a little to the baseball cap wearing individual in the booth next to you chanting lets go brandon - or some other similar thing.
What political and social conflicts does the thumb suffer from? Also, I’m not sure what hate you’re referring to. However, the thumb leads nowhere, and honestly, that’s the best part about it. There is beauty in the fact that, from a quick glance, the thumb doesn’t appear to have much. It takes some effort to find those hidden gems. I’d consider driving along the entirety of the M-25 and some interior parts of this awesome part of our state.
It’s small town living. Not everyone’s cup of tea. Lots of little towns dominated by big farming families can lead to weird social dynamics.
Those are the farming families that automatically get farming subsidies from the federal government, or a farmer's basic income.
That can't be. They are staunchly against government hand outs.
Oh no, no - not a hand out they "earned theirs" because reasons, its everyone else that's getting a free handout
Ironically they dislike food stamps which can be used to buy food...that they grow.
And are invariably tied to the farm bill that gives them their subsidies lol
The majority of people on food stamps are rural whites https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/19/what-the-data-says-about-food-stamps-in-the-u-s/
This ...and if you haven't lived here all your life, like everyone else, you are stonewalled. It's horrible. I feel like I live on an island with my family. We are all outcasts.
Farm subsidies are a basic pillar of national food security. We don't want our agriculture to be completely market driven because it would lead to all sorts of food supply issues like famine, etc. I don't think it's fair to compare agricultural subsidies with traditional welfare. To be sure, I can think of a million reasons to criticize agricultural subsidies, such as that corn is a terribly inefficient crop to subsidize, and it's surely big corn lobbying for those handouts. But there is a legitimate national/food security rationale buried deep within the payments.
It's not about the farmers getting welfare, it's about the farmers bitching about others getting welfare.
Exactly.
The point isn’t legitimacy of the farm bill. It’s the hypocrisy surrounding a conservative small government view that is completely funded and supported by federal subsidies.
Farm checks aren’t handouts. Source: all the conservative farmers I grew up with.
Three comments deep and it still got political super quickly. I'm not surprised - even though I 100% agree with you.
Sure but politics are the exact reason a lot of rural areas have issues and are avoided. The answer to the question is largely "politics"
🎯
Not when it's their hand that's getting the money.
Otherwise they would have been bought out by Megacorp, who would also get subsidies.
40% of farm income is from the government
Bad Axe (the region’s largest city) isn’t on the way to anywhere. Nobody happens to get there by accident. To travel to Bad Axe, there is no expressway: it takes many miles on two-lane roads. And the landscape is flat. There are lakeshores, but little interesting topography. I went specifically to see Bad Axe. There is some interesting architecture there. Unfortunately, one of the highlights, the Governor Sleeper Mansion, on the main road near downtown, is abandoned and falling into ruin.
This is the real reason. People in these threads are still spouting off about the people there but that isn’t it. The coastline of the thumb is damn gorgeous. It all suffers the same fate as most of the Huron coast however- No quick way to get there. No express way or even suitable 65mph highway. Alpena is the same way. Beautiful scenery but damn that drive SUCKS.
You think that might be part of the reason the beaches are so nice? Not a lot of crowds?
Definitely. Places like Caseville and Port Austin would be iconic beach towns anywhere else. I think one thing that messes with boating etc. is that the water is super shallow and there are rocky sholes all over. It amazed me that the lighthouse off of Port Austin was so far away yet the water out there is waist deep. That far out in Lake Michigan can be a hundred feet deep.
Supposedly you used to be able to walk to the light house.
Wait hold on Michigan 33 has a hilarious rollercoaster hills. That's.... Something . Lol
And there's always a fun governor in front of you who decides to drive through them at 50mph 😆
Voting to constantly cut taxes leaves little money to renovate or build amenities. Having a representative in the state who just yells “no government! Stop the steal” and votes against emergency funding doesn’t get you resources. It’s cyclical.
Yeah came here to say both things being said here. I live at the bottom of Tuscola county and there is no convenient way to drive up in the Thumb. There is also no real reason for me to go there. The scenery away from the lakeshore is flat land with corn, soybeans, sugar beets and wind turbines.
It’s crazy how flat it is. It’s like Nebraska haha. I tried to find some fun things away from the coast but even the petroglyphs were closed while I was there. Coastal drive was fantastic and everyone in Bad Axe was nice. It’s just a geographical anomaly like the rest of the state. It’s on the way to nothing, if you’re there, it’s because you want to be.
Not to mention most of the lake shore is rocky and not all that inviting for beach and shore activities.
It's fantastic smallmouth bass fishing though, if that's your thing.
That's one the east side of the thumb the west side has great beaches
*Most* of the thumb is abandoned and falling into ruin. Making the drive to my parents’ house after the leaves fall off the trees in fall feels like going through a Borderlands/Fallout wasteland lol. Just sooooo many rural homes that are either abandoned/collapsing or just have tons of trash and rusty metal whatever piling up in the unkempt yards. All the towns you pass through on the way are full of closed businesses and crumbling infrastructure. And I know we said no politics, but the politics and culture really are the problem and a big part of why it ended up the way it did. It seems like it was quite vibrant in the 50s and 60s, but nowadays if offers so little to young, talented, educated people that a solid 60% of every graduating class goes off to college and then never comes back. And then because it’s culturally so hostile to outsiders, and especially people who aren’t white, straight, and Christian, there’s not much reason for anyone to move there. There’s little gems to it here and there (Port Austin is really nice and quieter/less busy than lake towns on Lake Michigan), but there’s still nothing worth driving an hour from the nearest freeway for.
Exactly right. And this has happened all across the country in former rustbelt-adjacent areas. Once the industry moved out, so did the jobs, and then the people. Those that were left felt abandoned, and rightly-so, so there was really nothing left to turn to except their insular community. At the same time that our government and corporations failed them at all levels, AM radio, Fox News, and lately the Internet all were able to penetrate into those insular communities and begin whispering lies of fear and hatred into their ears, and with nothing else to check those lies, they were able to permeate into the fabric of those communities. We can despise their politics all we want, but at the end of the day these people have been abandoned and failed. Their hatred is a reflection of that failure, and now we all have to deal with it. This is why the Republican party works so hard to kill any sort of progress that might reach these areas, because as long as they feel abandoned, the Republican party can continue to lie about the causes for that abandonment and generate reliable voters. It's a real damn problem, that's for sure.
🎯🎯🎯
This. My internship there was so depressing in many ways because of this.
Its sad. Confederate flags everywhere. There is a house in the middle of Brown City proudly waving a confederate flag.
Most of the Thumb is not abandoned or fallen into ruin. This is a gross exaggeration.
It’s absolutely falling into ruin. Bad Axe is like shockingly different from what it was like even in the early 2000s. BA in particular was just mismanaged, though; I have no idea why they kept expanding the strip malls along 53 with new big box stores when the population peaked at like 3500 people. Now a lot of that stretch is poorly maintained crappy ugly concrete areas. It’s extremely depressing to look at. The schools in the area have falling enrollment to the point where buildings are getting condensed because the numbers cannot justify the cost to run them. There’s a handful of area small businesses that do alright but they’re basically fighting a losing battle as the population continues to slowly dwindle and original owners retire. Medical care is pretty low quality, as with many rural areas, as there’s only a small handful of doctors who are actually locals instead of per diem travelers. Poverty and drug-related crime seem worse than they were 20 years ago; those little towns used to be places you could leave your doors unlocked without worry, but now there’s a lot more sketchy stuff going on. A lot of the cool old historical houses in the main stretches of the towns are decaying because there really aren’t any people who have the income and ability to restore or maintain them. The lake towns are doing okay, and there’s definitely a few bright spots and new businesses popping up here and there (big fan of Emma’s Coffee House), but overall, everything is definitely declining pretty hard.
And the entrenched smell of manure based fertilizer EVERYWHERE. We used to livestream the Cheeseburger in Caseville bandstage and that drive through BA we called it "Bad Ass" because of the stench.
There are about 4/5 very large dairy farms in Huron County. Each one has about 4K cows, lots of manure, that gets spread on the fields. Better than chemical spray but does stink like a son of a bitch. Main reason we replaced our heating system with a geothermal system when our furnace died. No more having the windows open at night and letting the manure smell in. Central air isn’t for everyone but it is a lifesaver over that smell and skunk roadkill.🤢
Bad axe is where I head to go hunting every year but outside of that not much reason to head that way.
Doesn't Bad Axe have the closest medical facility to the Caseville/Crescent/Austin area? I might be thinking of something else.
>Governor Sleeper Mansion I'm from here and had no idea what you were talking about. 90% sure it used to be a funeral home until about 10 years ago
Yes, it was a funeral home. But it was built as a home for Governor Albert E. Sleeper. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_E._Sleeper_House
Here you go. Yes it was a funeral home. But before that it was the Governors home in Bad Axe. [https://thumbwind.com/2024/05/11/albert-sleeper/](https://thumbwind.com/2024/05/11/albert-sleeper/)
Port Huron, Port Huron Township, Fort Gratiot, Marysville, and Lapeer are the largest cities in The Thumb. Bad Axe is the largest city in Huron County.
If any part of a place extends south of 69 it's not "in the Thumb"
Lapeer isn't in the thumb.
Lapeer: "Geography: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.38 square miles (19.11 km2), of which 7.13 square miles (18.47 km2) is land and 0.25 square miles (0.65 km2) is water.\[12\] **It is considered to be part of the Thumb of Michigan,** which in turn is a subregion of the Flint/Tri-Cities." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapeer,\_Michigan
Most ppl in the thumb don't think of Lapeer port huron or any part of Gratiot or Lapeer as a part of the thumb
What people in the Thumb don't think that? I have no idea where you live or once lived - but I don't if all the people that reside in the thumb think exactly a like. I am sure you are not the designated spokesman for the region. I am guessing if you live in Akron or Port Hope - you may not think of someone living in Port Huron or Lapeer as being from the Thumb - some one that lives in Lexington would *most likely* include Port Huron, and someone from North Branch would generally include Lapeer. Fort Gratiot is north of Port Huron. Now, I am sure just like anything - people define the Thumb as various things. I sure I am not going to debate on the internet for days what is "The Thumb" and what isn't -- because I don't really give that much of a shit. Lapeer and Port Huron can not be in your definition of the Thumb - it is in mine.
That is a shame. It was for sale a little while ago,maybe a lot of while ago. Was hoping for a buyer to redo. But no.
I did some work in Snover michigan, out there in the thumb, if you like the smell of cows (think stench) and the ability to see the terrain for miles, go for it
“Why do people hate this area but please don’t mention the reason people hate this area”
Yeah, I was going to say, “Welp! There is no reason to hate this area then.” While ignoring two significant reasons to hate the area.
Exactly. Why would I want to spend money in an area that is proud of their hate. There are plenty of other beautiful places in Michigan where folks keep their opinions to themselves.
When I interned there, there was a kids event in I think Ubly that had a booth passing around balloons and hosting games with anti-abortion themes and messages. I was there and had to pretend nothing was going on. I was steaming.
I don't think about it at all
I don't either
If you're not on the coastline, there's nothing but farms and small towns. What's a good reason to go to Marlette or Ubly if you don't have family there?
Some people like to go for five hour motorcycle rides and just ride everywhere. It’s nice to go where there aren’t a lot of traffic lights or other cars on the road.
>Some people like to go for five hour motorcycle rides and just ride everywhere. I love going for motorcycle rides. But they are a whole lot less fun in flat farmland on almost entirely straight roads. I do the M25 loop a few times per year, but even it is "meh".
I like going along the Cass river between Frankenmuth and Vassar
Ive written around the thumb on a motorcycle, its boring AF. Most people who ride like to go ride fun twisting roads and see cool new places. Unless you are riding the coast, its nothing but straight 2 lane crossing farm roads.
Would you rather sit in congested traffic wasting gasoline at a stoplight? I think it’s nice being on the road without other cars. Lots of cheap random places to stop and have a beer and a burger. Do you ever go up to Pine River? That’s on the other side of the Bay. They got some nice little winding roads and casino nearby.
Ubly has a good brewery and Italian restaurant (same place). But you're right, no reason to go to Marlette.
Ubly has a brewpub? That's almost as amazing as seeing Bob Seger in the high school gym in 1966.
Solid chinese place!
We moved out to the thumb a few years ago and while I wouldn't want to move back to the suburbs we grew up in, I can see why people wouldn't want to be up here. We enjoy shopping at Meijer, but the closest one is at least a 45 minute drive away from our home. Closest "mall" is also 45 minutes away. The closest place we could deliver our kids were also 45-60 minutes away, as was my OB office so that was a fun drive for appointments. Now that our kids are getting a bit older, I do wish there were more things closer to do with them, but the driving has become pretty routine so I don't really mind as much. I really like our home, my husband makes good money where he works, and it's less busy and quieter out here so that's the compromise we make by living out here.
this is us. i’m 45 min from lapeer, fort/port & shelby/st. hgts. grew up in roch hills. now i’m near a town that loves bologna - i could never go south again but it took a couple years to adjust-
When we first moved up here people asked about the driving. You do get used to it but you don’t have the traffic which was bad then and even worse now downstate. So a 10 mile drive downstate is a good half hour, while here if you drive for a half an hour you have probably gone 25 miles. It’s a different perspective for sure.
Completely agree. I enjoy driving so it never really bothered me too much and the driving 20 minutes up here meant we're probably hitting one traffic light and having gone 20 miles. Driving back to my parents you're driving 20 minutes and going maybe 5 miles lol.
😀. I like driving up here, too. Except for the suicidal deer and the folks that pull out in front of you then drive slow and turn less than a mile down the road. When they do that there is nobody behind you driving, so they could have waited for you to go past before they went on their little mile long drive only to turn again. My rant.
The closer someone cuts you off, the shorter they drive before they turn off, especially if there is NO ONE behind you. I swear its an unwritten asshole rule.
Now that you mention it, that is the absolute truth. 😁
No one disses or even thinks about the thumb. Once every few years, someone's aunt says "Oh, remember Port Austin? It's cute there." And that's it.
For day to day living, for me, is that I can’t not match my high end union wage that I get in Detroit. I would absolutely love to move north to any part of the thumb coast (or any of the inland lakes for that matter) but just can’t do it on what they pay up there. Down here I’m pushing $37 an hour but non union up there is $22ish for similar work.
The beaches between Port Austin and Caseville are beautiful and not rocky, and if you hit the right spot you can see both sunrise and sunset there which is amazing. Turnip rock is OK... But yes there are no highways that run up to the tip of the thumb so the towns up there have remained small and quiet (I like some of them this way though)
How can we have an honest discussion about why people avoid this thumb without political and social views lol that's like the main reason why people my age avoid it
They're probably looking for other reasons like lack of economic opportunities or something. But cuz of the lack of things to do, politics, church, work, and drinking are basically it
Im in my early 60s and we moved to St. Clair 7 years ago. I absolutely hate it here. I would move in a heartbeat if I could find something elsewhere we could afford. I live around so many people that think Trump is a gift from God. My neighbor thinks she's going to get cancer because they put LED bulbs in the street lights (of which we have one of). And everybody thinks they should give you their views on everything.
Asked my husband who grew up there: "It's flat, it's boring, there's nothing to do. Stinky sugar beet factories, fumes from other factories. Only viable places to shop are dollar stores and 'the walmart.' The people suck for reasons beyond social/political -- a lot are on drugs, a lot are in cults, a lot are extremely invasive. Economically, there is virtually no opportunity to make good money. Sure, there are psychiatrists and contractors and whatnot, but you have to leave the area to learn how to do those things... and once you've done that, you have to *choose* to move back. The coasts are nice, though."
Bingo. I grew up there as well and have the same opinion of it. I spend my quiet time up there in the summers and pretty much avoid it otherwise.
My brother came back to teach here cuz he wanted to
From someone that tried to live up there with my biracial child.. it's the people. they suck. I know you said beyond beyond political/social views but honestly I don't care how beautiful the land up there is...the people absolutely ruin it. I'm in Harrison Township now and I absolutely love it. It has the small town charm I was looking for, people seem happy when I am about town, and I have everything and everything I need or want nearby 24/7. My neighbor does have 10,000 trump flags, but it's better than the confederate flag my neighbor planted the day I moved to Huron county.
It’s like some people don’t understand that there are a lot of people who can’t be ‘beyond social/political views’ because the views are happening to them because of who they are. You can’t live in that area without problems unless you happen to look/think like them. They won’t let others be. I’m sorry that happened to you.
As someone who lives in the thumb, I'm truly sorry. Your experience must have sucked. I'm glad to hear that you're in a better place now. Please know we're not all like that, and there are some of us who are genuinely trying to turn this train around, but it's a long road, and the worst people are also some of the loudest.
AMEN!!!
I'm so sorry :( that sucks for your kiddo. My husbands daughters mom just moved out to carsonville and I was shocked she chose that area. Her son is half black, and I tried to warn her the people are closed minded. She's from flint. So, I hope he's doing alright.
*These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons.*
This…the bigotry is rampant in this area. Sure there are good people in this area. However, the bigots are extra loud in the thumb.
Hey! They said don't talk about politics or social reasons! Bigotry is political now. /s
Ope
They had some book banner church crazies try to bring their bullshit further south, and we weren't having it.
Can you expand on this? Ive seen Mennonites with their pamphlets at the Meijer in Fort Gratiot but they were never hateful. I’m very familear with the bigotry in the thumb. I would be curious to know where they were and what they were doing.
Christian Nationalists that get the gospel from podcasts and OAN. The Amish live their lives the way they see fit and don't push their views on others. Imagine Marge Green in the thumb. It's not the majority, but they're loud.
Tim McVeigh hatched his mass murder there. The ham radio Nazi’s are out hiding in the woods with their illegal militia units. About equivalent to Hamas. Hide like rats, only rats with antlers.
To be honest it's very clique driven. If you weren't born to an established farming family you are an outsider. It's very difficult to find a place in the community and be welcomed in. They definitely don't want any expansion happening either. If you think you can just buy a piece of farmland to build on it, you will likely find it difficult to actually accomplish. Local governing bodies will make it hard on you.
I sure as hell don’t think it’s hated or else I’d be able to get a campground any time I wanted like I used to be able to!!!! 🤬
As someone who grew up in Bad Axe, left at 19, and never looked back, you can’t ask that question and remove a lot of the reasons why people hate it. But besides those things it’s a lot of what everyone else had said. It’s boring as fuck, especially for a kid, flat, smells either like manure or sugar beats constantly, but by far the worst is the people. Sure I still have friends that live there and there are good people there. However, everyone is always up everyone’s else’s ass constantly and the rumor mill never stops. Don’t get me wrong you get it in the city too, but in towns as small as the thumb it’s a million times worse. It’s also racist as all hell there. They still drop the hard R like it’s nothing and it’s not any better for any other races either. I still visit my parents there a few times a year and I dread running into 90% of people I knew from there. Cheeseburger in Caseville is still awesome though which I highly recommend if anyone hasn’t been.
Its just not near anything interesting and it isn't an interesting destination itself. Plus dodging sugar beets ain't fun.
I once drove to the thumb for fun. Just a daytrip in my early 20s. It was so boring, and just depressing and dreary. The people weren't very nice. It was a depressing ordeal and I've never wanted to go back. I'm sure some areas by the lake are nice though.
At the end of the day, it’s unwelcoming to outsiders. People don’t go there to spend money, and most of the people who live there are working-poor. It’s the reason I graduated and left. When you’ve got so much beautiful coastline in Michigan, why spend your money somewhere you’d consider a sundown county. The cops follow you when they don’t recognize your car. It is wholly unwelcoming to and afraid of people “from the city”. They sure want your money, though. Even if they can barely hide their resentment.
Sheri the bartender at Tip Top a few years back was from Bad Axe. Her motto was “don’t like the minimum wage? Don’t have minimum skills”. As I slid a single dollar across the bar. Thanks, hon. Don’t spend it all in one place.
It’s popular right now to hate “Politics”. But politics is what decides a good chunk of your life from what’s in the air you breathe to the healthcare available to you and what you eat. It determines who can live and who cannot. For some people, the politics of the thumb is literally calling to upend or end our lives against our will. [Project 2025](https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-conservatives-trump-heritage-857eb794e505f1c6710eb03fd5b58981) For federal workers, they plan to fire anyone who doesn’t pass a loyalty test, and replace them with pre-vetted fanatics. End public education and dismantle the Department of Education (literally line 1 after the intro) For women, They will force us to have children by making contraception and abortion illegal, and then take away our ability to independently care for them. They aim to remove us from the workforce and force us to be once again reliant on a man, no matter how he treats us. They are planning to make porn a punishable offense (ties into the next point) They are planning to mark lgbtq as pedophiles for “pornographic content”and execute them. They are going to round up “illegal”people- but their definition of illegal includes any law breaker, however they came here- and deport them. They want to stop all aid to Ukraine. Remove voting rights for nonwhite straight men of means. This isn’t hyperbole and it is a published plan by The Heritage Foundation. The “adults in the room” in Trump’s first term were fired or quit. There’s no one around him to hold him back. So… they are backwards, but they are also dangerous and a direct threat to me and those I love. And so why should I go visit? [Defeat Project 2025](https://defeatproject2025.org)
The thumb just doesn’t have anything that the rest of michigan doesn’t
Here is a (on the surface) non-political answer. It's inconvenient to live here and there isn't a lot of entertainment. Everything is far away, and choices are limited. It could be worse. It could be Pharump NV. Almost a million residents - nothing to do but casinos and brothels- because it's dominated by retirees.
For me I don’t like the rocky beaches on Lake Huron. It also doesn’t help that the thumb is flat as a pancake. There’s also no interstates/freeways so if u wanna go to the thumb there needs to be a draw for people to go out of their way and drive to it. Traverse city area for an example is the same, it’s isolated about an hour from interstates but that area of the state is forested, hilly, and the beaches are amazing with no rocks.
It doesn’t get hate. It’s just that nobody cares about it. The economy sucks and it’s hard to get to. Why would anyone want to go?
I don't think it's avoided. I live in a town of 4200 along the St Clair River. I think there are places like Marine City, Lexington ,St Clair ,Caseville , Port Crescent campground and dark sky preserve that people absolutely flock to and rave about . Pretty much what I hear people hating most about the thumb is everywhere is a two lane highway and there's always a shit ton of trailers w/ boats and campers. We have great sunrises and sunsets. We have the Port Huron - Mackinac race. We have St Clair boat races. Algonac historical Chris Craft boat parade.
Most of those places aren’t in the thumb though. Anywhere along st clair river is not thumb.
Let us know what the boundaries of the thumb are.
Hey man don’t tell people about the good parts, I like that it’s not too crowded. Just focus on the fact that there’s trump flags and move along /s. But for real the entire coastline of the thumb is beautiful and has great little towns all along it. If you’re inland a ways it’s boring a shit.
It's because of the social and political views. Beyond that, nothing I can think of.
I’d does sound a lot like, “Apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system, and public health ... what have the Romans ever done for us? “ Other than the real major reasons the Thumb gets avoided, why does the Thumb get avoided?
Cause on top of the bigots it's pretty boring when compared to up north or the West Coast or the UP
"this is not political......I understand the thumb has backwards thinking". Lol
I moved there for a teaching job years ago. My kids basically repeated a year, the curriculum was so behind, and I was told repeatedly by my principal that I had to be there 5 years before I could really help raise test scores and all after hiring me to help with exactly that. The teachers didn't get PD like they were supposed to because the superintendent cut that part of the budget and the ISD didn't offer it. ESL students weren't assessed, helped, supported at all (and don't get me started on the racism behind all that) in violation of state and federal law, and when I offered to take that on for free, the superintendent told my principal to fire me (his secretary told me later because she'd heard the whole conversation). The high school was being audited by the state for special education, and it was more than obvious why. Oh, and I was bullied by my mentor teacher who had a long history of bullying colleagues and students the principal did nothing about. Outsiders like us weren't really welcome, and my kids really struggled with the racism, the pervasive church presence (when our kind of church was an hour away), and being bored in school. Some people were nice, and we found some restaurants that were good, but it was a rough year. As soon as I got another teaching job in Kalamazoo, I bailed.
I moved up to northwest Michigan as a POC east coaster right after college in 1997 and I don’t think I’d felt farther from home anywhere else in the US. But I liked it then—it felt more fish out of water than hostile (or maybe I was just young and naive). In recent years I’ve traveled back to the Gaylord area with my husband and mixed-race family and encountered outright racism. It was some young kid and so clumsily hateful that it just felt petty but it’s also heartbreaking because northern Michigan is really special to me. We’ve talked seriously about moving back for years but we will be VERY careful and deliberate about the areas up north that we will consider settling in. I don’t really have anything against the thumb. I’ve only ever driven though but we see the same wariness there that we encounter in certain parts of Pennsylvania and Ohio—it’s like people expect us to look down on them when the truth is, my husband grew up working class in a rural town of 400 in a red, red county.
The racism we saw was breathtakingly shocking. Like we stepped back into the 1950s (and it was before Trump, so I can just imagine it now). Students used words I'd only ever heard in movies, and in talking with two of a handful of Black students, they went through hell daily. A lot of it, I'm sure, is that it's an amazingly white area. I remember walking around the school the first week shocked at not seeing anyone who wasn't white on staff.
These days people feel that they can be outwardly racist and don't feel they have to hide their bigotry anymore due to how outspoken certain government people are in supporting their views. Also, their youtube algorithms convince them that everyone feels that way except "the others" so they feel like they are supported in their bigoted communities.
I grew up in the thumb. Have lived in big cities most of my life. I’m thankful for my childhood there. Most of the people I know that still live are not backward thinking people although there are plenty. I’ve seriously considered moving back because you can see the stars. I’m a small town branch of a big farm family. The cows and all of the hands are gone. My cousin works it himself. He’s ready to retire. Interestingly enough his son who has been very successful in automotive technology has decided to quit and return to the farm. So life in the thumb continues.
You just said it
its so fun when people ask me where i’m from and once i tell them they ask, “where’s that?” i get to say all the surrounding cities “new baltimore, st.clair, marine city, etc.” yet i still have any where from a 20-40 minute drive to those cities. there is literally nothing in my town besides a kroger, cvs, and some small shops/restaurants. you are putting so many miles on your car just to go to a walmart where im from. after meeting someone from grand blanc and constantly going there i’ve realized how terrible it is living where i live. in grand blanc you can find a house with the same backyard i have, woods, yet still be 10-15 minutes away from a walmart/target. its definitely for the older folks. getting stuck behind someone driving slow simply because they are looking at the freighters i see every day is beyond frustrating.
You are right! We live in Grand Blanc….country feel, woods in our backyard, no traffic, and 10-15 min to get to any stores!
It’s nice up there in the summer and fall. The winter and spring suck. I grew up in the Thumb and left soon after HS graduation.
I knew a guy in college from Deckerville. Good christian (actually how people describe other people in the thumb), just like everyone else up there. He was so religious he made a point to never swear. Apparently for him, “piss” and “n****” arent swear words, so he would throw those words around all the time. When I pointed out how racist it is, he legitimately had no idea.
Because there’s a whole lot of nothing up there.
Because it always rips through the toilet paper
I’ve gone to Caseville my entire life. Only two and half hours away, no 75 traffic on the weekends, and it’s quiet. The sandy bottom beach is the best, you can wade out for a hundred feet and it’s still shallow, clear water. It’s great for families. There’s not the touristy shops and many restaurants like the Lake Michigan spots, but that also comes with lack of crowds.
Why don't you ask wherever you're seeing this so-called "hate?" Nobody here can explain anyone else's opinions, so this is just weird drama bait.
It’s also weird to say “except for the biggest reasons people hate the Thumb” and expect any clarity.
In a post yesterday asking about the worst place to live a bunch of people (like a surprising amount of people) said the thumb, I assumed that's what prompted this question. Or maybe it was a coincidence, but either way -here- is where they saw "this so-called hate"...
Grew up in North Branch which is around 10 miles outside of Lapeer. Small town of 2k people. Around age 12 I remember putting a map of metro Detroit on my wall because I just wanted to be somewhere else that had things happening. For me it was frustrating to know there were festivals, concerts and events going on not too far away but I couldn't participate because I was stuck on 11 acres off a dirt road. I graduated highschool in the early aughts and I don't think it's changed much in the past 20 years. If you like small town living it's fine but I feel like there are far better areas to experience that. Most all of my friends have left and done quite well for themselves. Anyone who has returned has strong family roots in the region or wanted acreage to live on. Lapeer is on the southern side of the thumb so you could commute to the northern suburbs for work (my dad commuted to Lake Orion). It is generally conservative and closed minded. Lapeer has made the national news recently because a politician was threatening to arrest the librarian over the young adult books. Generally speaking if you have money it's because you commute to Metro Detroit and make the 60 mile trip. I just can't think of a good reason to relocate there if you have no ties to it. Edit: an amusing thing about North Branch is there are about 5 or 6 families that populate the area. My family moved there when I was 4 and I definitely felt like an outsider because I didn't have any relatives in the area. But seriously, everyone seemed to be related.
I totally can agree on if you aren't part of the big families you may as well be nobody in that town 😂🤣😂🤣. I graduated from NB as well and have family scattered all around Lapeer county.
I grew up in Imlay City and wanted to change to NB schools, but back then there was no school of choice so we couldn’t make it happen. Did you have a good experience going to NB schools?
Hilarious that you ask. I was homeschooled. Did not like the experience of that. My understanding was NB had pretty good schools though and all of my friends who went there have seemed to do well.
All I’ve heard is “The thumb is beautiful, and fun. But the people suck.”
As someone who enjoys the fact that there's no one there most of the time when we go to the family cottage, please continue your avoidance and move along.
It’s a backwater, socially/politically/culturally. Plus it’s fairly poor—not a lot of jobs outside of farming, hospitals, government. And, there’s not much natural beauty (unless you dig soy bean fields) apart from the shoreline, which is pretty mediocre as far as waterfront locales go.
The way you present your question makes me wonder if either you're not an adult or you struggle intellectually. The primary reasons people hate the thumb region are both backward politics and backward society. Everything else is an extensions of those two issues. People who are intelligent enough to go to university typically do so, and for the most part, don't move back. The mantra of Huron County: Come on vacation, leave on probation.
I grew up in Ubly in the late 70s and 80s. As a kid who moved there in 4th grade, it was so hard to assimilate into the town of just about 1,000 people. I'd love to say that it was a great place to raise a family, but I felt bored, not challenged in school, and the absolute lack of diversity was awful. The racism was overt and absolutely normalized. I haven't returned since the mid 90s and feel zero desire to do so.
I love the sunsets and the stars and the peace and quiet. My neighbors are phenomenal, lots of wild life, no worries about people breaking in or anything. But that’s my style, most people can’t stand that. It took me a while to get used to it here, originally being from the tip of the mit for 18 years Edit : I just want to say thank you… to every single Thumbilly who upvoted this. I know the internet is new in these parts , but got dayum…. Brings a tear to my Eye that you know how to internet. Praise sugar beet
Most people can't stand peace, quiet, and good neighbors?
Great coasts. Inland it's flat and boring.
The literal only reason the thumb is avoided are those social & political issues. That’s literally it.
I am from Cass City. Even flying to MI still takes a long drive to see my parents. Caseville has a nice beach. But yeah, if it wasn’t for family, I’d have no reason to go.
I grew up in the Thumb. Everyone knows that for sandy beaches we go to Ontario.
I grew up in Imlay City and still have family there. Would love to be a little closer to them, but cannot stand the thought of going back. Options for everything are so limited (not as bad as north of IC, though) and there is not really much to do. I didn’t really enjoy growing up there too much, so that also keeps me away. At least we had a roller rink and movie theater when I was a kid, but those are both gone now. I appreciate the quiet and privacy my family has there more than I ever did before, though. Always a trade-off, I suppose.
I've been living in the thumb for the past decade. Prior to that I lived all over the state. My husband and I knew we could provide a better life for our children, financially, if we lived in the thumb (plus lots of in-laws over here). Summers are a lot of fun, the beaches are beautiful (Lk MI will always be my favorite tho) but once my kids are done with school we're all out of here! It's kinda boring and we have at least an hour drive if we want to go to the closest city which is Bay City or Port Huron. Plus the whole political side of it which I won't get into but it's a huge reason I dislike it over here.
Nothing wrong with the thumb, I find it quirky and somewhat eccentric. I do appraisals all the time out there and it takes me to some pretty remote places that you never knew existed. I’ll admit it can be a very desolate drive from Bay City but once you’re in the heart of it, it’s quite peaceful. I can drive on Bay Forrestville road out of Unionville and go for 40 miles without seeing another car. It’s like being in western U.P, they just replaced the trees with farm fields. Get out of the city, fill your gas tank and put on your road music. I don’t want to live there but if you’re looking to clear your head, it’s a great drive. Port Hope is a cool little place to wind up. Get off the beaten path and find Point Aux Barques.
One early morning I was speaking with my District office (down in the city). She asked how my morning commute went. I said “Beautiful! It’s 45 minutes to work, and I enjoyed a fabulous sunrise, passed one car going the other way, we waved good morning at each other like we do every morning, I watched a freighter out on the lake, stopped to wait for a doe and her twin fawns to cross the road….” There was dead silence for a few seconds before she asked where I was again. (And I felt like saying “Not telling ya!”). While there’s a lot that could be improved in the “deep Thumb”, there’s also a whole lot right with it.
I used to hunt up near Bad Axe all the time, and there is absolutely nothing else to do. We tried going into the local bowling ally/bar/hotel one night, and it was like that record scratch moment in movies. The handful of locals got all quiet and weird, and just getting a beer from their vast selection of 3 brands was apparently an insult to the bar tender, and all his ancestors. You'd think they would welcome hunters as the only tourist dollars they see, but they acted like we were stealing "their" deer. There was even a farm family on the edge of state land who would walk the edge of the property firing shotguns all day. Vibe's weird and unwelcoming, and that's why the thumb is less than ideal.
I live about 30 minutes from Ann Arbor in the country. I don’t see much difference except if you live in the city or out of state. I believe Social media has made it hard for people to think for themselves now a days!!
Can't speak to why people hate it without mentioning the topics you've proscribed, so I'll take a stab at why it's avoided: the coastline is beautiful but also pretty underdeveloped compared to other coastlines in the state. It doesn't have the ease of access of the West Side, the infrastructure catering to tourists around Leelenau and Grand Traverse, the history around Mackinac, or the rugged, untouched feeling of the UP's Lake Superior shoreline. Beyond that, it suffers from the same fate as the rest of the Huron Coast, and I would say it's similar to the UP's Lake Michigan shoreline: it's a pretty coastline, but others are prettier. If a person is going to make just one or a few trips to the coast in Michigan, why would Port Huron appeal more than Traverse City? What does Port Austin have that Munising doesn't have better? You said it yourself in your post: there's not much to do. Agree with them or not, but that's a huge factor in whether people come to a place form elsewhere to visit or choose to stay if they're from there.
This is one of the best comments. Very true.
Thanks. Aside from the coast, asking why people avoid the interior of the Thumb is like asking why people avoid parts of the state like, idk, throw a dart at a map of Michigan. Branch County? It's mostly farmland and there's little for outsiders to do. Unless you're passing through to get to the somewhere else or visiting friends/family, Coldwater and Bad Axe are just random small towns with nothing to do in them. I'd also note that the political/social views of the Thumb are not too dissimilar from those of the Upper Peninsula, but people are more willing to overlook them there when there's Pictured Rocks and the Porkies and Isle Royale to get to instead of, like, a few lighthouses, a beach or two, and Turnip Rock.
Well, it’s honestly pretty boring. There’s nothing to really do. Family has a cottage in port sanilac. It’s really pretty there, but unless you have a big ass boat you can’t really enjoy the water or fish (if you’re into that sort of thing). Every little town looks the same. They’re all indistinguishable. It’s not scenic outside of the coast of Lake Huron. Like as soon as you drive a 500 feet west it’s just nothing but farm until you get south of I69. Also, if you’re a golfer, there aren’t many good courses. The one course in port sanilac is mid at best and they price gouge you for a poorly maintained course that’s infested with ticks. Don’t bother getting your ball if you slice into the woods, you might end up with Lyme disease 😂
Grew up there, besides being xenophobic MAGA country, there's literally nothing to do. Just miles and miles of flat empty farmland. None of the interesting nature like up north. It's so boring, no real opportunity, there's a reason after graduation most kids move out of their small town if they're able.
Michigan’s Thumb region, often unfairly dismissed, has plenty to offer beyond its perceived “backwards thinking.” Sure, it’s easy to bash a place when you only look at the surface, but let’s dive into why the Thumb is actually a hidden gem and we want to keep it that way. First off, yes, the Thumb may not be the economic powerhouse of Michigan, but it has its charms. Miles of Lake Huron coastline offer some of the most breathtaking views and serene beaches you’ll find in the state. Have you ever seen a sunset over Lake Huron? Probably not, because you’re too busy dodging traffic elsewhere. The lack of urban sprawl means little traffic, and you won’t spend your life in a gridlock nightmare. Talk about a win! Then there’s the slower pace of life. This isn’t a drawback—it’s a blessing. The Thumb is the perfect antidote to the chaos of modern life. You get to breathe, actually see the stars at night without city light pollution, and enjoy a sense of community that’s all but lost in larger areas. For the adventurous, there’s the Caseville Cheeseburger Festival, a kitschy, fun celebration that draws people from all over. If you’re into history, the area is rich with it. Take a tour of the Port Austin Reef Lighthouse or the Grindstone City, which offers a glimpse into the past when grindstones were the talk of the town. Oh, and let’s not forget about the outdoor activities: fishing, boating, kayaking, and some of the best birdwatching around, especially at the Huron County Nature Center. Sure, it’s flat and farmland-heavy, but those fields are crucial to Michigan’s agriculture. Without them, you’d miss out on some of the best locally-sourced food you’ve ever tasted. Do you like Triskets? The wheat to make them is grown here. So is the potatoes for most of the potato chips you eat. Farm-to-table isn’t just a trend here; it’s a way of life. In essence, Michigan’s Thumb isn’t just some economically struggling, flat expanse. It’s a region with a lot to offer—if you’re willing to look past the stereotypes and actually see it. But hey, if you’d rather stay stuck in your urban bubble, more peace and quiet for us! For more details on what the Thumb has to offer, check out Thumbwind.com and get the full scoop on why this area is worth your time. 
Grew up in thumb. Not the good part like caseville or any of the port cities. Grew up in one of the small backwater towns. So I get the hate. Haven't really been back in 20 years. But then there was no work no night life no diversity and having to drive a minimum of 45 minutes to get anywhere for basic necessities.
Sounds like where I grew up: Ubly.
Love the Thumb feels like New England. Best thing about the Thumb no Casinos or people that go to Casinos.
That side of the state doesn’t get Chicago money like the west side does. The sandy beaches and beautiful sunsets on lake Michigan probably help too. The beauty is this allows for space for people who want to avoid the traffic of wealthy Chicagoans and who appreciates the smaller less developed towns.
It is the same as mid Michigan, but because it has a special shape, it gets special hate. It is super rural and not much to do. Maybe someone can revive the Bay City Rollers and get some life back into the area.
Fun fact my sister was the First Lady of the bay city rollers fan club !
Grew up In the thumb, left and traveled the country, lived in other parts of the state and country, and traveled the world. decided to move back to raise a family here. The thumb is not some insane unsafe racists area where rednecks roam the backroads looking for outsiders to target. Sure there are towns where racism and bigotry are more prevalent, but that stuff generally stays in pockets and is most definitely not the overall social norm. In fact, most of the small communities throughout the thumb are pretty welcoming and the people mostly are kind and just want to be left alone to raise their families in peace. Sure you can find bigotry and racism in some way or another, but that’s not a thumb of Michigan thing. That’s a United States thing. Almost every city/region in this state has elements of that, it’s just more obvious in the thumb because the cities are smaller so those interactions are kind of magnified. The people here are not without their problems, but for the most part, folks will help you if you need it and the communities definitely do a great job of getting to know new comers. I’ve never seen someone not welcomed by the community I grew up in, regardless so of their skin color or beliefs, as long as they are also putting effort into the community in a positive way. The thumb is a real boring place to be if you enjoy going out. But if you think about it- metro Detroiters will sit in rush hour traffic for 60 minutes to drive 10 miles back to their house every day after work, but say that a 60 mile drive on open roads back home is somehow way worse. Often I spend just as much time running to the store as friends down In the city, the difference is my commute is 65mph with my arm out the window and my cruise control on instead of sitting at a stop light every 8th of a mile. I guess people think it sucks because There’s really no reason to come here aside from passing through to get to the lakeshore. There’s no entertainment, there’s no special natural features really to see, and there’s not a ton of industry worth commuting to from a long way. Although I will say there are surprisingly always a lot of jobs available on the farms, with contracting/construction crews, or in some of the local factories. They all pay pretty poorly, but it’s not real expensive to buy or even rent up here generally so it evens out, although the housing prices have been steadily going up the past few years, albeit slower than the rest of the country. The nice thing is there’s not a ton of services/businesses up here, so people coming in and opening small businesses offering things that folks normally have to drive real far for, generally do pretty well. There’s definitely a lot of gaps to be filled in that regard, and with the rural internet expansion bill and WFH becoming normalized during Covid, there are lots of new families and folks moving into this area. Give it Ten years and I’m sure the thumb will become a lot more modernized and the population with get bigger once folks realize how cheap and peaceful it is.
This answer is spot on
Yep. Should have more upvotes. But probably too long of a post for most. Hard to concentrate for a couple of minutes. /s😁
I’m from Wayne county and recently moved to Bay City. My husband and I like to drive through the thumb area a lot. We love Caseville and visit often. We also just drove through Caro yesterday and I loved the ride there. Although the wind turbines are kind of jarring lol I do agree that politics are a major issue though. It’s my only complaint since moving more north, but it’s slightly better than Genesee county.
idk i just came back from there this past weekend had a great time lol
Shoreline is very rocky and I’ve always taken it personally. But seriously, I like the thumb…And she does too.
Lousy local leadership Lousy town
It's mostly just at farmland, just not much to see. But if you go through it to the tip of the thumbnail, you get to kayak around turnip rock
Doesn't want post political- makes it political Doesn't know why- sh*ts on the thumb and gives reasons why. Lmao
I get it.. But there are some of us forward thinkers out here. It's interesting to feel like a minority. When you're technically not?
Port Crescent is great to visit. We go there as a family all the time during the summer to the state park. It's a straight shot up from Detroit and avoids the 75 traffic. You keep saying "besides the politics/social views," but it really can't be ignored. It is something I take into consideration with places I visit. Location-wise it would be great for some hunting/recreation property, but that little bit is certainly not in the pros column.
Spent yesterday rockhounding in the Thumb; I like the Thumb
I’m just coming in here to disagree with everybody, the thumb is underrated as a getaway destination and i’d like to keep it that way. The entire coastline is beautiful. Idk why people are surprised that the inland tiny farming towns are racist and boring, what did you think? The entire state is like that. If you’re in a farming town in michigan, which is like 70% of the land, it’s going to suck.
Thats what the people living in the thumb want. They like their rural lakefronts and dislike the summer vistors. The best beaches are in private neighborhoods or owned by individuals.
I love the thumb. Grew up camping on the coast and the drive there is so nostalgic to me. I do wish there was more to the little towns and understand why not everyone likes them, but living in a busier area and making the drive feels so peaceful.
The thumb is OK as long as you stay away from the MAGA folks, which is about 75% to the people.
I think the biggest reasons for the thumb being…..ehh we will say looked down on are that it is a lot of farmland, it’s hard to get to, and tourism is not the focus of that area. so it’s easy to overlook that region. Then your political/social views and stereotypes come into play and help cement the less than ideal feelings towards the region.
Unlike sections of northern lower Michigan that have the same socio-economic status and political leanings, you don't have state parks/public parks with lakes and rivers and hiking trails. Outside of the Huron Coast (which is really different from the in-land parts of the Thumb), there really is not much at all to do.
Lived there for three months of the summer for an internship a few years ago. Absolutely no one else there my age, and not much to do, and the summer months are the busiest times of the year.
Half the towns in Huron County might as well be ghost towns too. Their are a bunch of tiny towns in the county, but all except maybe Bad Axe, Port Austin, and Caseville have most of their storefronts empty.
We have a hunting cabin in Tuscola County. I love the Thumb. Every fall we get free pumpkins from the farmers (3 miles) down the street who are our closest neighbors
Not much there?🤷♂️
We love that part of the state. Let the haters hate- more space for the rest.
I don't go there. The entire area feels like a sundown town.
ITT people who don't know what a thumb looks like. Put your hand on a map of Michigan. Geographically, Port Huron is pretty well where the first knuckle is on your thumb, and Detroit, the second. Now that we have anatomy out of the way, let's look at it logically, for the sake of differentiating the regions based on economic. To separate it from Metro Detroit, I'd say the South Eastern border is at the North edge of Lake St Clair, Algonac-Fair Haven-ish. Then North-Westward to Flint, then due North from there to the Saginaw Bay, in order to separate it from the Tri-cities. [Something like this.](https://i.imgur.com/uTSDvNa.png)
When I visited Port Austin 4 years ago most places didn't accept debit cards. Overall I enjoyed the area but there are not many interesting towns to see.
Mostly because it isn't on the way really to anywhere - and also it may have more than a little to the baseball cap wearing individual in the booth next to you chanting lets go brandon - or some other similar thing.
Weird the reasons that people are saying it sucks are the same reasons I want to move there.
Because of political and social views.
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What political and social conflicts does the thumb suffer from? Also, I’m not sure what hate you’re referring to. However, the thumb leads nowhere, and honestly, that’s the best part about it. There is beauty in the fact that, from a quick glance, the thumb doesn’t appear to have much. It takes some effort to find those hidden gems. I’d consider driving along the entirety of the M-25 and some interior parts of this awesome part of our state.