Lost Benzie County

After the Civil War in the 1860s, veterans came to Benzie County and settled the farmlands, lumber companies began to harvest the timber, and railroads soon crisscrossed the landscape. Villages with churches and schools such as Nessen City and Aral came to life. Mill owners and workers and their families built company towns like Carter Siding, Averytown, and Watervale. When the lumber died out, these towns virtually disappeared, and the largest towns, such as Thompsonville and Honor, were r...