About the Area
Our area has a diverse and exciting history of Native American tribes, missionaries, government officials, adventurous settlers and those seeking timber to harvest from the rich northern Michigan woods.
The story of our area began centuries ago, but the written history of our villages begins in the mid-1800s. Northport traces its history to 1849 when the town was formally organized as a village. Just a few years later, town founders began an aggressive campaign to sell land, bringing an influx of new people to the area.
The village of Omena also boasts an early mission history that starts in the mid-1800s as well when the Rev. Peter Doherty established the Omena Presbyterian Church.
Throughout the history of the area members of native tribes and immigrants played a large role in the development of the area. Their legacy is found in the names of our streets and roads and the occasional reference by locals to certain geographic areas of the township as the Bohemian settlement, the Swedish settlement and the Norwegian settlement.
Agriculture, tourism, sailing, fishing and hunting have been part of the local history of the Northport-Omena area for generations and remain important to the local culture and economy today.
