Some sites refer to this as a 'ghost town' - but to me it's more like a 'shadow town'.

The unincorporated community of Alverno seems to have ceased to exist, even though it’s not too hard to find on maps or search engines. It became just another part of Benton Township, nestled near the Black River in Cheboygan County. The river connects Black Lake, Burt Lake, and Mullett Lake.

The village’s roots lie with the Sova clan. The Sovas had a good number of family members who came and settled in the summer of 1877; thus, the community was named "Sova".

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The new town was intended as a postal station, but soon the area had a decent farming community, with plenty of good crop land and many settlers becoming farmers. Along with the farms, the town had a Catholic Church, general store, post office, and schoolhouse.

The community of Sova finally changed its name to Alverno in December 1900. The Alverno post office was discontinued in 1917; once it shut down, the other establishments closed up as well.

Today, the old Catholic Church is used as the Benton Township Hall, located at the corner of Orchard Beach Road and Black River Road. There’s also the Alverno Fire Dept. and a small grocer where you can load up on roadtrip munchies.

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