This 1964 color film episode of the NBC weekly syndicated series “America!” from provides a travelogue view of the state of Michigan hosted by Jack Douglas, highlighting natural wonders and tourist attractions in a colorful tour of the Great Lakes State (TRT 24:51).
Opening titles: “America!” over a montage of United States tourist attractions (0:08). Host Jack Douglas introduces himself. A map of Michigan appears in green, with the surrounding Great Lakes in blue (0:43). Autumnal lakefront forests, sunsets, snowy cabins, skiing. Title card with a lighthouse: “The Pleasure Peninsula” (0:57). The map returns. A montage of lakes, cliffs, rivers, and waterfalls (1:30). Girls play catch with a beach ball while running along the coast of Lake Michigan near Muskegon (2:10). The privately owned Old Presque Isle Lighthouse, originally built in 1840, overlooks a harbor on Lake Huron. Lighthouse keeper Francis Stebbins, who restored the property, speaks. A couple enters the lighthouse and takes in the view from the top. A fresnel lens in closeup (2:33). Welch’s Dock in Sault Ste. Marie. A ferry loads passengers for a sightseeing tour. The Soo Locks, which join Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes via the St. Marys River. A cargo freighter passes through the locks (3:58). A log boom of floating wood extends into the horizon. A Welch Lock Tours ferry (4:31). A ghost town, Fayette Historic State Park and Harbor, nestled along a bluewater cove. An iron ore sample and former smelting sites. A tourist takes in the sights (4:52). A wood carved sign with a racist depiction of a Native American Indian chief for “Black River Valley Parkway.” Ottawa National Forest in the Upper Peninsula’s Bruce Crossing. A family at a scenic overlook. The Black River and waterfalls: Gorge Falls and Potawatomi Falls. A swinging bridge and viewing platform (5:57). Lake Superior and Porcupine Mountains State Park. A couple hikes a footpath along a cliff (6:55). Tahquamenon Falls in the U.P. (7:36). An aerial view of Isle Royale in Lake Superior (7:52). A sea plane with a propeller-driven engine (8:02). Rock Harbor Lodge. Rock Harbor Lighthouse (8:26). A woman sketches a landscape of the lighthouse (9:04). A fisherman, Peter Edison winds a net and pushes a wheelbarrow (9:24). “Game Haven” a gift shop, trophy room, and wildlife corral in Wolverine, within Cheboygan County, hosts a buffalo herd, deer, antelope, reindeer, and elk (9:50). In Ironwood, a then-new 52-foot fibreglass and steel Native American archetype, known as “Hiawatha, World’s Largest Indian” (10:56). Dutch style wooden clogs. Holland Michigan’s roadside billboards for its “Dutch Village and Restaurant.” Blooming dahlias, a model stork. The pseudo-Dutch tourist attraction’s colorful architecture (11:41). The skyline of Detroit, seen from Windsor, Canada. Downtown Detroit. Woodward Avenue. Marshall Fredericks’ Spirit of Detroit statue (12:52). A sign: “Lakeshore Rd.” in Grosse Pointe. Residential mansions in the Wayne County suburb (13:36). Greenfield Village’s gated entrance, “The Edison Institute,” now the Henry Ford. The Ford Museum Building replicates Philadelphia’s Independence Hall. A London-style mechanical clock. A portrait of Henry Ford (13:54). Historical interpreters reenact candle making, a milliner’s store. A montage of women’s hats through the ages (14:37). The birthplace of Henry Ford, relocated with a placard (15:54). The brick garage where Ford built his first cars. An 1898 automobile with kerosene headlights (16:04). The Wright Brothers’ Cycle Shop, relocated from Dayton, Ohio. Photos of Ford with Wright, Thomas Edison. Edison’s laboratory (17:06). Models of Edison’s first light bulb, telephone microphone, and cylinder phonograph (17:48). A paddlewheel riverboat, the “Swanee” (19:13). The touring steamship South American leaves Detroit for Lake St. Claire, Lake Huron, and Mackinac. Cargo vessels (19:38). On-ship entertainment. Mackinac Island: A horse-drawn carriage, Little Bob’s Restaurant, Ryba’s Fudge Shop. Narration mentions “Fudgies.” Rental Bikes. A Borden’s milk truck, covered in balloons. A carriage ride past the Chatterbox Restaurant (20:28). The Grand Hotel’s red carpet (22:20). A montage of stills (22:53). Historic Fort Mackinac, cannons, historical reenactors. The Grand Sable Sand Dunes. End credits: “Produced by George Flournoy” (23:27).
