MICHIGAN ‘GHOST’ TOWN: Dighton, in Osceola County

Over the weekend I visited the town of Dighton. It’s considered by many to be a ghost town, as it’s a shell of its former self. Located approximately 12 miles south of Cadillac in Sherman Township, Osceola County, Dighton cannot be found on some maps, although the Dighton General Store is listed on Google Maps.

The old downtown is at the intersection of 130^th Avenue and 19 Mile Road. If you attempt to head east on 19 Mile, good luck. It’s a washboard dirt road that’s extremely hard on your shocks…so if you visit, do what I did: head south from 20 Mile Rd, then turn around and go back the way you came.

Dighton, named after original resident Dighton Marvin, was originally located a mile northeast on 20 Mile Road, and the only remaining proof is an old foundation, sitting all alone in the countryside (SEE PHOTOS BELOW).

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According to the Michigan’s Lost Towns website, “It was a wild town in its beginnings - examples: the burning of a dance hall by a man who was thrown through one of its drinking hall's second story window, and Daniel White, who was murdered in 1868 because he was black.”

The town of Dighton found it necessary to move to its current location in 1901, with its population now around 1,000.

The town had three lumber mills, the Victor Rolfe General Store (abandoned for many years but still standing), railroad station, the David Family Store (built in 1887 and still there, now called the Dighton General Store), telephone company, stagecoach stop, churches and old one-room schoolhouse.

The old brick schoolhouse still stands outside of town.

Take a roadtrip to Dighton this year….very cool photo ops, as you’ll see with some of mine below!