History
Big Bay is a tiny hamlet situated on Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, with a current population of just 250. To find it you will need to travel about 20 miles northwest of Marquette (the largest “city” in the UP, at 20,000). Incredibly, Big Bay is the site of one of the most well-known murders of the 20th century. The notoriety comes not from the importance of the crime, but because a fictionalized account was made into the movie Anatomy of a Murder, starring many then current and future Hollywood stars.
In 1952, US Army 1st Lieutenant Coleman Peterson and his wife Charlotte came to live in the sparsely populated upper peninsula of Michigan, where Coleman had been assigned to an artillery range after finishing his service in Korea. They often visited the Lumberjack Tavern in Big Bay to have drinks and socialize. The tavern was run by Mike Chenoweth, a former state policeman, who was known as a womanizer and bully. Charlotte spent the evening of July 31, 1952, drinking and carousing at the Tavern, and Chenoweth offered to drive her home. Later that night she hysterically told her husband that instead of taking her home, Chenoweth had taken her into the woods and raped her. In a fit of anger, Coleman grabbed his 9 mm Luger and went to the tavern looking for Chenoweth. Although he claimed he never intended to kill Chenoweth, Coleman was overcome by rage when he saw him, and emptied the Luger, killing him.
Coleman’s lawyer for his murder trial was a former Marquette County prosecutor and Ishpeming native named John Voelker. Voelker used an unusual defense, last used in Michigan in 1886, called “irresistible impulse.” He claimed that when confronting Chenoweth, Coleman, due to his agitated state of mind, was unaware that his actions were wrong. The jury was convinced and found Coleman not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. Soon after, psychologists interviewing Coleman determined that he was now sane, and he was released. In 1958, Voelker, by then a member of the Michigan Supreme Court, published a novelized version of the trial under the pseudonym Robert Traver. The novel was a best-seller and soon the movie rights were purchased by the famed director Otto Preminger.
Preminger insisted that Anatomy of a Murder be filmed entirely in the Upper Peninsula, using the sites of the actual crime and trial. It became the first movie in the history of Hollywood to be filmed entirely on location. The murder scenes were filmed in the Lumberjack Tavern, the courtroom scenes were filmed in the Marquette County Courthouse, and the jail scenes took place in the Marquette County jail. Some scenes were even filmed in John Voelker’s home office in Ishpeming.
In her wonderful book, Anatomy of “Anatomy,” the Making of a Movie, Joan Hansen provides many amusing stories about the cast and crew, who stayed at the Mather Inn in Ishpeming, where she was a Hostess at the time. Imagine all of these famous people arriving in a tiny UP town for a six-week shoot: Otto Preminger, Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Eve Arden, George C. Scott, Arthur O'Connell, Kathryn Grant, Orson Bean, and Murray Hamilton. If that wasn’t enough, the judge was played by Joseph N. Welch, the lawyer who took Joseph McCarthy to task during the red scare hearings. And then there was Duke Ellington, who came to Ishpeming for the filming and whose sound track for the film won three Grammys.
Anatomy of a Murder was quite controversial for its time due to the explicit subject matter, and the clinical use of such words as “panties”, “contraceptive,” and “climax.” For a while the film was banned from being shown in Chicago. But the film remains highly regarded, and is considered one of the most realistic courtroom dramas ever filmed. It currently has a rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Sea Plane Base as constructed in MSFS
The fictional Big Bay Sea Plane Base shares space with the fictional Big Bay Marina on Lake Independence, about a half mile from the namesake bay on Lake Superior (where Big Bay Harbor is the site of an actual marina.) There is aviation fuel and three parking spots on the ramp, along with numerous other aviation facilities including hangars and office space. On the other side of the ramp there are marina facilities including boat storage and marine sales and repair. Nearby is a large social building called the “Big Bay Boat and Plane Club” with indoor and outdoor seating, and access to a large beach. Floatplanes may dock at the pier using three water parking spaces, and flying boats may moor at two parking spaces further out in the lake. The pier also has a coffee stand and several tables where patrons can sit and enjoy the view. Amphibious planes share a ramp from the lake with boaters, and there is a small marina at the foot of the seaplane ramp. Lastly, there is a small camping area adjacent to the ramp, and two beach houses nearby. The camp sites and the beach houses share a separate dock.
I have given the seaplane base the unused designation B09. The 9000-foot water runway (12-30) is marked by green lighted buoys. Radio service includes AWOS on 125.925 and UNICOM/CTAF on 122.7.
I have recreated the Lumberjack Tavern in its proper location using existing MSFS assets. It’s not a perfect recreation, but I think you will find it interesting. It’s located at the top of the hill across the street from the entrance to the airport. Look for where the truck pulling the boat is turning on the entry road. All the signage is from the actual Lumberjack Tavern. Enjoy!
Notes
To install the airport, unzip and place the folder titled "mulberrywing-airport-b09-big-bay-seaplane-base" in your community folder. You will also need to download the Seaplane Asset Library from flightsim.to and place it in your community folder. Many thanks to 30West for providing this great library!
To see the marina and some of the boats, you will need to download the library Mamudesign – Marinas from flightsim.to and place it in your community folder.
John Voelker wrote several books under the pen name Robert Traver. In his book Trout Madness, Voelker, an avid fly fisherman, revealed that Ernest Hemmingway had pulled a fast one on his readers in his famous story “The Big Two-Hearted River.” Voelker suggested that the river in the story was not Michigan’s Two-Hearted, but instead was the Fox, a nearby river in the UP that Hemmingway spent long days fishing after his return from Word War I. After all, no fisherman worth his salt would willingly divulge his favorite fishing spot!
If you are feeling adventurous, try a quick flight to one of the lakes in the nearby Huron Mountains. (Mount Arvon, at 1979 feet, is Michigan’s highest point.) But don’t dawdle! Most of these lakes lie within the boundary of the Huron Mountain Club, an exclusive 25,000-acre hunting enclave controlled by a mere 50 very rich members. It is so exclusive that Henry Ford had trouble becoming a member. If you stick around too long, you will certainly be greeted by some very grouchy (and well-armed) guards. UPDATE: you can now fly to a cabin with a float plane dock on the shore of Mountain Lake, entirely within the Huron Mountain Club boundary. Check it out here.
A fun flight in an amphibious plane is to start at Sawyer International Airport, fly north to Marquette, then fly along Lake Superior to Big Bay. Sawyer Airport is the former K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base. In years past it was pretty common to see B-52s flying low over M-28 on final for 12,300-foot runway 19. Another great flight is to the Isle Royale Seaplane Base on Portage Lake in Hancock, Michigan, 45 miles to the northwest. This base is provided by spidermanMN on flightsim.to. When I was going to college at Michigan Tech, just across the lake, I watched many lucky people flying out to Isle Royale in float planes, or heading off on the Isle Royale Ferry, which docked in Houghton.
You might want to limit the number of ground aircraft generated by choosing a setting of zero in the traffic menu. Otherwise, the simulator will spawn wheeled aircraft in the parking spaces. These will be sadly stranded, since there is no land runway!
9 months ago
9 months ago
MulberryWing
Catboat6728