Wakefield, MI

Wakefield sits in Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula, ten miles east of Wisconsin where U.S. 2 and M-28 meet the forest-and-lake country of Gogebic County. Sunday Lake is the city’s center of gravity, a natural lake bordered by Eddy Park and a campground. The town’s older economy grew around iron mining, but the Sunday Lake mine closed in 1961, pushing local work toward forest products, goods and services, and tourism. Wakefield Township surrounds the city, while the two governments remain separate.

That shift is visible in the way people use the town now. Summer brings boating, fishing, camping, and the American Power Boat Association races on Sunday Lake; winter sends skiers toward Indianhead Mountain and Snow River Mountain Resort. The Wakefield-Marenisco school sits by the lake, and the Gogebic County Medical Care Facility gives the city a major care role in the region. The Black River Scenic Byway and nearby Porcupine Mountains broaden the outdoor map. Wakefield is a former mining community whose daily life now moves between the lake, the forest, and the snow-season economy.