Cherry Growers Weigh Station – Traverse City, Michigan - Gastro Obscura
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Cherry Growers Weigh Station

Traverse City, Michigan

This vacant station is a relic of harvest processing techniques of the mid-20th century. 

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View of the weigh station rickbbiking (Atlas Obscura User)
View of the weigh station rickbbiking (Atlas Obscura User)
Signage from when the station was used as a flower stand. rickbbiking (Atlas Obscura User)
Cherries growing in an orchard on the Old Mission Peninsula. RosaIreneBetancourt 7 / Alamy Stock Photo
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The Cherry Growers Weigh Station on Peninsula Drive was completed in 1920. For 40 years, it served local cherry growers on the Old Mission Peninsula in their efforts to compete with those in the Grand Traverse Bay region. The establishment of a weigh station on the peninsula allowed the local growers to avoid time-consuming lines at the weigh stations in the city. They would simply drive their truck’s flatbed right up to the platform, move their crates on wooden dollies to the scale, and receive a slip designating the load’s weight.

After modern cherry harvest methods rendered the need for a weigh station obsolete in the 1960s, the structure later found a second life as Lorey’s Harbor Station, where flowers, fruits, and vegetables were sold to the public. This operation began in 1972 and continued for 45 years until 2017. Since 2017, the structure has been sitting vacant.

The weigh station is a handsome and well-preserved reminder of previous cherry harvest processing techniques. It was added to the Michigan Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Know Before You Go

The weigh station is located at the intersection of Peninsula Drive and Bowers Harbor Road.

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