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All the United States Michigan Northport Woolsey Memorial Airport

Woolsey Memorial Airport

A lonely stone-sided terminal stands next to a grass airstrip on Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula.

Northport, Michigan

Added By
Rick Brown
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The air terminal building.   rickbbiking / Atlas Obscura User
The air terminal building.   rickbbiking / Atlas Obscura User
View of the grass airfield.   rickbbiking / Atlas Obscura User
The air terminal building.   rickbbiking / Atlas Obscura User
Historic marker at the airfield.   rickbbiking / Atlas Obscura User
Observation deck.   rickbbiking / Atlas Obscura User
Airport outhouses.   rickbbiking / Atlas Obscura User
5/29/2022   belopolskyigor / Atlas Obscura User
  cfleszar / Atlas Obscura User
Woolsey   gklumps / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Opened in 1935, the Woolsey Memorial Airport is a quaint reminder of the heroic and sometimes tragic days of early aviation. It was founded in honor of pioneer aviator Clinton F. Woolsey, who died near Buenos Aires in 1927 during the first Pan-American Goodwill Flight across Central and South America. 

The aviator's father, Byron Woolsey, donated 80 acres of land to the township of Northport, Michigan, for an airport to commemorate his son. Before being killed in a crash during the two-month Pan-American flight, Clinton F. Woolsey served as a pilot in World War I and a flight instructor. One of his last students was Charles Lindbergh, who would fulfill Woolsey’s dream flying across the Atlantic Ocean.

Located near the northern tip of the scenic Leelanau Peninsula, Woolsey Memorial Airport is an unexpected sight, quite unlike any other airport. The grass field is accented by a charming stone-sided air terminal and a gazebo-like observation deck. The terminal building once housed a creamery and milk transfer station that was converted and expanded into the airport terminal as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. The building is now boarded up, but the observation deck is still accessible, and the grass runways appear to be maintained for ongoing use by aircraft. 

Update June 2020: The building no longer appears to be boarded up. 

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Airports Aviation History Memorials

Community Contributors

Added By

rickbbiking

Edited By

cfleszar, gklumps, belopolskyigor

  • cfleszar
  • gklumps
  • belopolskyigor

Published

December 31, 2018

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Sources
  • https://www.midwestguest.com/2015/02/woolsey-memorial-airport-northport-michigan.html
  • https://www.record-eagle.com/archives/cute-airport-tragic-story-woolsey-a-hero/article_289b7410-04f7-53d2-8f00-8c021b01fa01.html
Woolsey Memorial Airport
E. Woolsey Lake Road
Northport, Michigan
United States
45.161716, -85.574831
Get Directions

Nearby Places

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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Michigan

Michigan

United States

Places 271
Stories 29

Nearby Places

The Archduke of Austria's Michigan Grave

Suttons Bay, Michigan

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Leelanau Preservers Tile Wall

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miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Michigan

Michigan

United States

Places 271
Stories 29

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