AT A GLANCE
Why go?
On Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, the Laurium Manor Mansion is the grandest surviving monument to the copper-boom fortune that once flowed through the Upper Peninsula's mines. Built in 1908 for Thomas H. Hoatson Jr. and his wife Cornelia—owners of the rich Calumet & Arizona Mining Company—this 45-room, 13,000-square-foot Edwardian residence still holds the gilded ceilings, carved oak and stained glass that its first family enjoyed while local miners earned 25 cents an hour. Today the mansion operates as a working inn, and its self-guided tours let visitors wander the same halls, parlors and ballroom the Hoatsons once filled.↗↗
Tours run daily from noon to 3 pm (walk-ins welcome June through mid-October, by appointment the rest of the year), last 30 to 60 minutes and come with a printed history pamphlet plus a smartphone audio guide narrated by the inn's owners. Admission is $15 for adults and $10 for children under 18, and overnight guests tour free. As an official Keweenaw National Historical Park heritage site, the manor offers the clearest picture of how mining wealth actually looked and felt at its peak.↗↗
