Pere Cheney, Michigan

Pere Cheney, also called Cheney and Center Plains,^[1] was a village located in Crawford County, Michigan in the late 19th century. It is located in Beaver Creek Township, Michigan and was once a small lumbering town.^[2] Pere Cheney was the first community in Crawford County, Michigan and was established by lumberjacks who trailed the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw Railroad north headed for Mackinaw City.^[3] Established in 1874 around the sawmill of George M. Cheney,^[4] it served as the temporary county seat when Crawford County was officially organized in 1879,^[1][5] though it soon lost this distinction to the more heavily populated town of Grayling.^[3] It had a station on the Michigan Central Railroad called the Cheney depot, and a United States post office.^[4] The Post Office closed in 1912,^[4] and the village was abandoned in the early Twentieth century. It has since taken on the reputation of a ghost town.^[4][3]

Pere Cheney was established in 1873, founder George Cheney received a land grant from the Michigan Central Railroad company to establish a stop along the railroad. A general store was established along with sawmills, carpenters, a doctor, hotel with a telegraph service and a post office^{[citation needed]}. In the mid-1870s the population was at about 1,500 people^{[citation needed]}. In 1893 diphtheria spread through the town wiping out a great deal of the town's population. Diphtheria showed up again in 1897, by 1901 the town's population fell to only 25 people and in 1917 there were only 18 people left in this once booming town^{[citation needed]}. At that time the land was sold off in a public auction and the town was declared a ghost town^{[citation needed]}.

There are many stories surrounding the ghost town of Pere Cheney as well as the cemetery itself. Ghosts, witches, strange figures, glowing orbs, lights in the trees, and more. Some say that the Pere Cheney was a cursed town from the start, as it was built on Native American land. ^[6] The cemetery is down a two track road and runs along some railroad tracks, hidden in the woods^{[citation needed]}. There is no sign at the cemetery, and no signs indicating that it exists the way we took to get to it. A little farther north is the town of Pere Cheney, which is supposed to be considered a Ghost Town. At least 90 people were buried in the Pere Cheney Cemetery but due to all of the vandalism, very few headstones remain.^[7] The only thing that grows in the town is a green mossy grass. And according to some accounts, the entire town is haunted. Some sort of disease; chlorea, diphtheria, or small pox is said to have wiped out the entire town in the early 20th century. Most of the information that you find about Pere Cheney states that people from nearby towns had tried to burn the town down to stop the disease from reaching them, but there is no information to support it.^[8] The disease came twice two years apart. The remaining people dragged their belongings to what we know now as Grayling. If you visited today the cemetery has been vandalized and the town is covered with a strange mossy grass and no other vegetation grows.

The cemetery is owned by Beaver Creek Township, Michigan and is maintained by the township. ^[9]

In more recent news about Pere Cheney, on Friday, October 16th, 2009 a group of teens who had gathered at the Pere Cheney Cemetery were confronted by a white male in his 50s. The man brandished and fired a shotgun at the teens. "We have had a ton of complaints over the years," said Crawford County Sheriff Kirk Wakefield, who encouraged people to stay out of the cemetery. "There's always something going in the Pere Cheney Cemetery." ^[10]

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Coordinates: 44°34′39″N 84°38′16″W / 44.57750°N 84.63778°W / 44.57750; -84.63778