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Build a Model Plank Road
You can build your own miniature plank road. You will need some craft sticks ("PopSicle"® sticks), a few 1/4" inch dowel rods or straight sticks, and craft glue or tiny nails and a hammer.
Lay two, long-as long as you want your road-dowel rods parallel to each other, like railroad tracks. These are called stringers.
Lay craft sticks flat across the dowel rods so their edges touch. Glue or nail each craft stick to the dowel rods. Allow glue to dry. The craft sticks represent the 3-inch thick (usually oak or pine) planks.
Make a settlement diorama for your model plank road. Make a toll house, livery stable, and settlers' cabins from cardboard or small boxes. Put the toll house and livery stable at one end of the plank road. (There was a toll house and gate every ten miles on the long plank roads.) Arrange the settler's cabins along the road. If you have model horses and wagons or carriages, set them on the road as though traveling through Michigan.
Name your plank road. Here are the names and lengths of some of Michigan's plank roads:
| Name of Road |
Length |
| |
| Alpine Plank Road (Grand Rapids) |
8 miles |
| Ann Arbor and Lodi |
5 miles |
| Auburn and Utica |
4.5 miles |
| Birmingham and Pontiac |
6 miles |
| Crapo Toll Road (Big Rapids) |
6 miles |
| Detroit and Erin |
15.25 miles |
| Detroit and Howell |
21 miles |
| Division Street (Grand Rapids) |
10.5 miles |
| Pontiac and Orchard Lake |
9.5 miles |
Contact the Michigan Historical Museum.
Updated 09/10/2010
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