R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press In the bar of the Nahma Inn, owner Charley MacIntosh laughs with patrons.

EDITOR NOTE: The Daily Press will be featuring a series of articles on local businesses, highlighting their history and what makes them unique. The series will run on a regular basis in the Daily Press.

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NAHMA — Today, the Nahma Inn offers lodging for travelers and serves drinks and food to patrons of its bar and dining area. Next door, the old general store serves as an expansion of the business that owner Duncan Charles (“Charley”) MacIntosh took over with his wife Laurie in 2008. It hosts musical acts from Scotland to Nashville, resuscitating an area that has been called a “ghost town” on and off over the years.

Only a few quiet roads branch off of the sparse stretch of US 2 between Rapid River and Manistique. One heads south alongside the twists and turns of the Sturgeon River, through nothing but woods for almost five miles. Eventually, it reaches Nahma on the shores of Big Bay de Noc.

Though a fairly booming community around the turn of the century, little remains of what was once the home of the Bay de Noquet Company, a timber producer and sawmill established in 1881 by owners in Oconto, Wis. While in operation, it was one of the busiest sawmills in Michigan. In Nahma’s heyday, there were 104 homes and between 600 and 700 people, according to a 1982 Daily Press article.

The constantly-burning silo for wooden waste, which stood like a sentinel at the mouth of the river, emitted rogue embers that led to several fires in the town, said MacIntosh.

The Nahma Hotel (now the Nahma Inn) was rebuilt in 1909 following one fire.

It withstood the town’s worst fire of 1921 and served as refuge for survivors, thanks to efforts by Nahma’s residents. A 1952 article by historian Clint Dunathan reported that while the hotel manager and his wife had been out of town at the time, “Nell Fleming and Ruth Gustafson were the only persons at the hotel … The girls closed the hotel windows and the men kept the building wet with hose and buckets of water, so this building didn’t burn. … Families not burned out donated food for the fire fighters. Tables were spread in the Nahma Hotel kitchen, which was open all night.”

Yet more fires plagued the town in 1923, 1937, 1947 and 1949. Soon after, the Bay de Noquet Company — having exhausted most of the area timber — went bankrupt.

The entire town was sold by Charlie Good in 1951 to Indiana-based American Playground Device Co., which produced wooden playground equipment and had hopes of turning Nahma into a resort town. The hotel became a sales office for American Playground. An optimistic 1962 article by Clara Seuel Schreiber made it sound like they were succeeding, but in 1972, American Playground also sold large parcels of Nahma land piece by piece. Today, 68% of Nahma Township is federally owned and makes up part of Hiawatha National Forest.

Historical records are spotty, but before the Groleau family ownership came a spell MacIntosh described as “sketchy.”

“Not a hospital per se, but the guy that was living here, he had people living here like patients — it got kind of weird … It was kind of quiet, secret — well, not secret so much, but … I guess they dressed up in robes and stuff. I don’t know, it was weird,” said MacIntosh.

In 1991, the Nahma Development Corporation was formed as a subsidiary of American Playground. Warren Groleau was named manager. In 1994, the Groleaus purchased 15 acres from American Playground, including the hotel and general store. Brothers Warren, Pat and Ron and their wives, Christine, Dani and Carolyn restored the hotel, which reopened by the end of 1995.

There was a period of operation under the Groleaus. They sold the hotel to someone who must have been from the Marquette area, MacIntosh reckons, because he purchased it from Range Bank, who had taken possession.

MacIntosh, a forester for Kretz said that after he purchased the hotel in 2008, the building underwent a year of restoration and repairs before entering its current phase of operation under the new name “Nahma Inn.”

Now, the Nahma Inn’s restaurant, bar and Arrow Lounge are popular for locals, tourists, historians and ghost hunters.

According to legend, Nell Fleming, onetime resident and beau of former owner Charlie Good, never could leave the hotel. But she’s colored as a benevolent spirit; when not looking out the window for Good, it is said she rearranges dishes and furniture.

“It’s real as far as I’m concerned. I’ve had enough experiences,” said MacIntosh.

Most people, however, come for the food and drink. MacIntosh said that the fish fry is popular, the prime rib is a hit, and he had to stop eating the ribs because they’re too good.

In 2010, MacIntosh wanted to expand beyond the space available in the bar-restaurant and purchased the general store next door. He has cultivated a musical community that includes local musician Mia Brown and a solid handful of artists in Ireland and Scotland. The general store — while still bearing very clear evidence of its past, including bottles on the shelves — is now an event venue.

Most of the shows and business take place in the summer months, but MacIntosh hopes to be able to gain winter traction as well. Snowmobile trails to access Nahma are in the works, and once it’s confirmed that two planned culverts will be going in, MacIntosh intends to add a gas pump behind the Inn.