Under cloudy skies and temperatures in the mid 30’s, I find myself 10 miles southwest of Alma in the village of Sumner hiking a snowy path close to the Pine River. Sumner’s first settlers came to Gratiot County in the mid 1850s, establishing a sawmill and a store in the location that would become the village. The settlement was first known as “Belltown” after George S. Bell, who took possession of 400 acres of land in Sumner Township. Another of the first immigrants, Titus Stover, ran the store, and his customers took to calling the settlement “Stoverville.” The village that would eventually be Sumner was laid out in 1868 and named “Estella”. (stock photo) When the post office was established in 1869, it was named Sumner because it was the first post office in Sumner Township. In 1913, Sumner’s school had two teachers and ten grades. There were churches in town for Free Methodists, Adventists and Church of Christ. Businesses included a flour mill, a hotel, and a blacksmith shop. There was also a resident physician and several stores that sold general merchandise. Up in the canopy, I notice a tall Oak tree with dead leaves still attached and a tall Maple sprouting leaf buds in preparation for spring. On the path, I spot a deer track in the snow stained slightly yellow due to tannic acid seepage from the underlying, decaying leaf litter. Approaching the riverbank, I pause in the quietude of this winter landscape to look and listen as the water flows gently from north to south. Walking along the bank, I notice squirrel tracks as well as Goldenrod blossoms seeding out. Blossoms begin forming in mid-August and continues through October. Plants usually do not flower until the second year of growth at which time they produce an average of 3000 seeds per plant. A pappus (stock photo) at the tip of each seed aids in wind dispersal; goldenrod seeds released 3 feet off the ground traveled an average of 2 feet in a 5-mph wind. Goldenrod plants also reproduce by way of short rhizomes (stock photo) emerging from the base of aerial stems. Rhizomes are usually not produced until after the first year of growth at which time several grow outward from the same root crown resulting in a circular cluster of stems between 2 to 5 inches apart. Patches of shoots produced by rhizomes arising from a single root system were observed growing up to 8 feet wide. Finally, up ahead, I turn north to view the river and think about a similar view from last spring.
Crystalline white fell overnight
Closing doors of hibernators
Crowning heads of cattails
Revealing paws of predators
Blanketing layers of leaf litter
Draping needles of green
Insulating muskrat mounds
Drifting against pillars of pine
Settling on winter’s wonderland
Crystalline white fell overnight
D. DeGraaf
Very interesting history of Sumner. Thank you.
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