Around Fife Lake
Lake cottages, cabins and pole barns in state forest country
Fife Lake is a small village on its namesake lake, where M-186 runs over from Kingsley to meet US-131. Around the lake you find cottages and year-round homes, and back in the woods there are cabins and rural properties near the Manistee River and the North Country Trail.
State forest land covers much of the area, and some properties here are weekend or hunting places. Garages and pole barns on those properties sit closed for long stretches, and they often hold trailers, sleds and equipment that call for a wide door.
Winter comes early and stays late this far inland. Snow drifts against doors, bottom seals freeze to the slab and rollers stiffen in the cold. A tune-up before the first storm and a new bottom seal when the old one cracks go a long way toward keeping a door working.
