Michigan's Once-Thriving Copper Mining Town Is Now An Abandoned Hamlet With Historic Charm And Unique Tours

Just 20 minutes from the underrated mountain escape of Copper Harbor is one of Michigan's oldest copper mines that's one of just three in the state that people can visit. Named for its east coast investors, the mining town of Delaware on the Keweenaw Peninsula was built in 1846. This was just two years after the Pittsburgh and Boston Mining Company kicked off the country's first mining boom by extracting copper near Copper Harbor. For comparison, the California Gold Rush began two years later in 1848, so Michigan is a must-visit for mining history fanatics.

Entirely financed by mining companies, Delaware started relatively small with 100 people, although it grew to 1,200 at its peak. At its height, it had a church, schools, grocery store, and a railroad, as investors were optimistic about its output and invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to support the mining operation. And the mine did produce over 7 million pounds of copper, but it never turned a profit. So, it was only open from 1847 to 1887 before it closed for good and Delaware turned into a ghost town.

These days, Delaware stands as a 19th-century time capsule with a handful of abandoned buildings and machinery. But what makes it unique is the self-guided tour that you can take of the old mine. Left essentially as it was in the 1880s, this immersive dive underground and into the past makes Delaware one of the five best ghost towns to visit in Michigan. 

While most of Delaware's buildings are gone, the ruins of two miner houses still stand. The stone facades offer a somewhat haunting impression of life in the mid-1800s, and you can see them by taking a trail around the old town. But the pièce de résistance of Delaware is its copper mine that's built 100 feet below ground. With its abandoned machinery and original wooden decks in the shafts, the Delaware mine, like its last two buildings, is a fascinating liminal space between then and now, where time has stopped, but at the same time, moves forward, as do we.

Don the hard hat and walk down a series of steps into this 1,700-foot-long mine that's filled with historic artifacts like compressed air drills and which is flooded in lower areas (in case you were worried it wouldn't be spooky enough). There's low lighting in the mine to create the atmosphere that miners experienced in the 1800s, so bring a flashlight if you want to see more than what's in front of you. Keep an eye out for the green veins of copper that still line the mine. Those with bat phobias may want to stay aboveground and just have their loved ones just show them pictures afterward. 

Currently, Delaware is privately owned, so you'll have to book a self-guided tour with Delaware Mine Tours in order to visit it. You can either take the surface tour, which includes the ruined buildings, museum, and prehistoric mine, or the full access one, which allows you to visit the underground 19th-century mine. Besides the historic artifacts, you'll also find a kiosk in the mine that offers more information to help orient your visit.

The prehistoric mine is a nearby site of a surface mine used by indigenous peoples. In this case, it's a naturally split boulder with exposed copper, which native groups used for thousands of years to make jewelry and other artifacts. In fact, it was this use of copper on the Upper Peninsula gem of Keweenaw that first alerted white settlers to the presence of the mineral in the area, which is how the country's original mining boom started here.

Delaware is known as the "Snow Capital of the Midwest," which seems like a difficult title to attain in Michigan, but it gets on average 240 inches of snow per year. So, the town of Delaware is only open for visitors from mid-May to mid-October. At that time, it's open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and tour prices are lower for the surface option. With either tour, kids under 6 can visit for free, and the site is pet-friendly as well. Delaware is just a 45-minute drive from Houghton, located off the Copper Country Trail National Byway, a 47-mile portion of US-41.