This Stone Pyramid Has Every Michigan County Engraved On It

There is a stone pyramid located on old US-31, just north of Kewadin in the south end of Antrim County that is seeming to baffle people. The pyramid, or cairn, looks small from video but it's actually 12 square feet at the base and 16 feet high, so it's rather large especially while driving by on the road. I dug a little bit into this unique pyramid that has stones all over it and every Michigan county is engraved on their own stone. Pretty sweet right?

The cairn was dedicated in honor of Hugh J. Gray on June 28, 1938, for amongst other things creating the West Michigan Tourist Association. The stone also has a bronze plaque with the likeness of Mr. Gray and the following inscription, "Hugh J. Gray – Dean of Michigan’s Tourist Activity." But it's what's inside that is really special and ties it all together...

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Inside the monument is a sealed crypt holding resort booklets and brochures from every section of the state and various Michigan newspapers carrying stories of the dedication and articles of Mr. Gray’s promotional efforts. The cairn is located at approximately the 45th parallel. The cairn was a major roadside attraction in its first years, but its popularity faded after 1955 when US-31 was routed more directly north out of Elk Rapids. The old US-31 was renamed the Cairn Highway in honor of the monument.

This monument isn't too far from Traverse City, Charlevoix or Petoskey, so if you're from that area or you plan on travelling there for the holidays, this would be a really cool roadside attraction to check out. Speaking of roadside attractions, this U.P. sculpture may be the weirdest one I've ever seen...