Keweenaw National Historical Park

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Calumet, MI
Keweenaw National Historical Park

Calumet Visitor Center
Summer Hours: Open Daily 10am-5pm
May 26-Sept 7, 2026. Unlike many parks, however, the U.S. Admissions and hours may vary.

Keweenaw National Historical Park was established to preserve and interpret the story of the rise, domination and decline of the region’s copper mining industry. Congress legislated that the National Park Service and the park's advisory commission partner with sites owned and operated by state and local governments, private businesses and nonprofit organizations to achieve this goal. The Keweenaw

Heritage Sites program, administered by the Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission, is one aspect of this partnership. Keweenaw Heritage Sites contain significant cultural and/or natural resources and make a unique contribution to the copper mining story. Embodying stories of hardship, ingenuity, struggle and success, each site allows you to explore the role mining played in people’s lives here and afar. Heritage sites operate independently of the National Park Service. Sites stretch along the length of the Keweenaw Peninsula, from Copper Harbor to south of Ontonagon. Calumet Visitor Center at the Union Building
Visitors spend anywhere from a half hour to several hours touring the facility. On display are over two hundred artifacts and objects, many on loan from local heritage organizations like the Houghton County Historical Society and the Finnish American Heritage Center. There are also hundreds of photographs to be viewed throughout the exhibits, courtesy of the Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections and the photo collection of Keweenaw National Historical Park. There is also a visitor information desk where park rangers will answer questions and provide further insight into the exhibits. Location: Calumet, Michigan
Parking: On both sides of Red Jacket Road, which is located on the South side of the Visitor Center. There is also accessible parking in the public parking lot behind the Visitor Center on 4th Street. The Calumet Visitor Center schedule can be found on our website: https://www.nps.gov/kewe/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Heritage Site Information:
http://www.keweenawheritagesites.com/

06/12/2026

The labor of immigrants ultimately fueled Michigan’s Copper Country mines to produce billions of pounds of copper. With immigrants came their traditions, such as foods, like the Cornish pasty. Other foods like nisu (cardamom bread) made its way to the Keweenaw through Finnish immigrants. Dozens of other ethnic groups also made this place home. Although the mines have long been shut down, these traditions remain today as a reminder of the bustling days of the copper mines. Without these immigrants what do you think would fill the Keweenaw’s plates today?

NPS photo/L. Webber

06/09/2026

Keweenaw National Historical Park celebrates the importance of Michigan copper to the local community and communities across the United States. One place touched by the Keweenaw’s copper was the Naugatuck Valley in Connecticut, famous for its production of brass (an alloy of copper and zinc).

Connecticut brass products like these found their way onto the battlefields of the Civil and World Wars, onto the deck of the Titanic, and onto all sorts of clothing for function and fashion.

While the Keweenaw wasn’t the only source of copper for the mills of the Naugatuck Valley, both regions rose to prominence in the mid-nineteenth century as leaders of industries reliant upon each other. Fittingly, they also declined together after the end of the Second World War.

Keweenaw copper has played a part in many important American stories, but this place has always been so much more than the sum of its mines. How has the Keweenaw impacted your life as a visitor or local?

National Museum of American History & NPS photos

06/05/2026

Are things heating up for the season… or looking a bit too chill? “The Copper Country Evening News” advertisements from in 1896 had either situation in hand. A delivery from Messner’s ice wagon may cool you down, but a visit to a clairvoyant on Sixth Street could spice things up! While a fabulous image from the Coppertown USA collection illustrates the Messner business, no photo of Madam Smith was identified in the park archives.

How do you celebrate the arrival of warm weather?

06/02/2026

The Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission announces the recipients of the 2026 Keweenaw Heritage Grant program. $149,911.67 in funding will go to various historic preservation, interpretation, education, and curatorial projects from Eagle Harbor to Ontonagon.

19 grant applications were received this year with 14 receiving awards. To learn more: go.nps.gov/KNHPAC26Grants

06/01/2026

For this summer's Quincy Mining Mondays, we’re highlighting Quincy Mine Historic American Engineering Record (HAER). Catch them every other week!

If you've not familiar, "HAER is a long-range program for documenting historically significant engineering and industrial work in the United States." Included in this collection are a series of drawings produced in 1978. We’re using these drawings to take a deeper dive into the fascinating history of the Quincy Mining Company.

In this map of the Quincy location in 1865, we see rapid growth experienced by a company that was less than 20 years old. Up the hill from newly platted Hancock, Quincy had opened up 6 shafts to exploit the copper-rich Pewabic lode, discovered by a neighboring mine a few years prior. Quincy had already constructed over 50 company homes in Limerick and Hardscrabble to attract a stable and loyal workforce. Copper rock from underground travelled by tramroad down to Quincy's original stamp mill. Do you know what stands on this site today?

The Library of Congress

05/30/2026

Happy International Potato Day! Did you know potato farming was big in the Copper Country of Michigan? Farming is an important part of the story of the Copper Country. Many immigrants came to the Keweenaw to make better lives for themselves and their families. While the copper mines were the major draw for jobs, many had their hopes of ultimately getting land to start a farm. The area around Chassell is renowned for its strawberry farming tradition, but potato farming was important, too. Do you have any Copper Country farming stories?

Photo: Keweenaw NHP Archives

05/28/2026

The summer season has arrived at Keweenaw National Historical Park and ranger guided programs began this week. You are invited to join and learn about the park through walking tours, illustrated talks, demonstrations and more! Check the park calendar of events to find program information at https://go.nps.gov/KEWECalendar. There you can find locations, times and other information so you can plan your visit around these great park experiences.

05/26/2026

Bid ‘Old Man Winter’ a fond farewell by enjoying new summer hours at Keweenaw National Historical Park’s Visitor Center! Starting today, May 26th, 2026, the Visitor Center at 98 5th St, Calumet, MI 49913 will be open 7 days a week from 10am to 5pm. Watch for daily program updates on Facebook and the website: go.nps.gov/KEWECalendar

NPS photo/L. Webber

05/25/2026

On Memorial Day, we remember those who paid the greatest price for our freedoms. This remembrance began as Decoration Day after the Civil War. During World War I, a poem was written that established the poppy as a symbol of our fallen heroes.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow,
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, felt sunset slow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

~In Flanders Fields by John McCrae

Looking for a deeper understanding of the Keweenaw home front and how its copper and courage impacted the front lines of World War I? Come by the Calumet Visitor Center this summer, open daily from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm beginning May 26, to explore and learn more.

NPS photo/Dedication of Soldiers and Sailors Monument at Lake View Cemetery. Keweenaw NHP.

05/21/2026

Celebrating with Park Partners!

Painesdale Mine & Shaft works with Keweenaw National Historical Park as one of 22 Keweenaw Heritage Sites. They help to share the nationally significant story of copper in the Keweenaw with visitors from around the nation. In Painesdale, the historic structures and landscape are compelling remnants of this legacy. As the 250th anniversary of the United States is commemorated this summer, Painesdale Mine & Shaft provides another reason to celebrate. Their water tank building will be reroofed and preserved to help tell these stories for generations to come, thanks in part to an America250MI Grant!

Address

Calumet Visitor Center, 98 Fifth Street
Calumet, MI
49913

Telephone

+19063373168

Website

http://www.nps.gov/kewe

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