Skip to main content

Guntzviller's Taxidermy and Spirit of the Woods Museum: SO Much More Than A Tourist Trap

 A few weekends ago, I took a small vacation to northwestern Michigan, stopping around Elk Rapids, Charlevoix, Eastport, and greater Antrim and Grand Traverse counties.  One of the coolest spots that we hit was Guntzviller's Taxidermy and Spirit of the Woods Museum (11060 US-31, Elk Rapids, MI 49629).  There's a Minnetonka Moccasin sign out front, which can be found in approximately every Up North Tourist Trap Store, but Guntzviller's is so much more than your average "tourist trap."

Founded in 1928, Marvin Guntzviller opened a shop in southeast Michigan, specializing in taxidermy.  By the 1970s, Voss Guntzviller, according to the shop's website, relocated to their current Elk Rapids location.  They still offer taxidermy services, if you've got a trophy deer or salmon to mount, but the main draw (for me at least) was the taxidermy museum!

It's a small building, but they've done an amazing job bringing things to life - as soon as you walk in, you're met with a small display that teaches you about how they make molds of the critter and tan and stretch the skin to create the wonderful mounts you see in every Midwestern dad's man cave.  They've got interactive displays, inviting you to do things like "Find the weasel" in the display, showcasing large animals (like a buffalo) in a small plexiglass display in their natural environment.  One of the coolest displays for me was an old logging homestead diorama showcasing a bobcat.

They've done a great job, too, at highlighting indigenous culture, talking about how the natives would fish or hunt, and the meaningfulness of taxidermy to the tribes in Michigan.

In addition to the museum, there's a gift shop and retail store...as mentioned, SO much more than just a tourist trap.  Sure, there's the moccasins and the rocks and minerals, but they also sell their own taxidermied wares!  They take great pride in local history, selling Michigan-based history books, local candles, northwestern Michigan cherry sweets, and polished Petoskey stones - that reminds me, I haven't found a good Petoskey stone in a while.  I oughta go look...

I would definitely stop there again, next time I'm in the area!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Junk Food Review: Chocolatey Payday.

 I saw an ad on my Instagram page for a chocolate-covered Payday bar.  Jokingly, I took a screenshot, and posted it on my stories asking the question "Isn't this just a Baby Ruth?"  A friend responded by saying that no, a Baby Ruth is peanuts surrounding caramel and chocolate-flavored nougat; the chocolate-covered Payday is peanuts in caramel-flavored nougat, dipped in chocolate. Now, candy bars are made from a few common ingredients:  Chocolate, peanuts, nougat, and caramel.  Chocolate and nougat is something like a 3 Musketeers.  Chocolate, nougat, and caramel is something like a Milky Way.  All 4 makes a Snickers bar.  Chocolate and Peanuts is a Mr. Goodbar.  Chocolate and caramel is either a Caramello or a type of Milky Way.  Peanuts and caramel (no chocolate) is a Payday.  And, chocolate, peanuts, and caramel led to the confusion that took me down the road to writing this article in the first place. I did what any sane person would do:  I bought both bars, and did a 
Post a Comment
Read more

The Eddie Bentz Bank Robbery

Prohibition is one of the most storied periods in American history. Urban myths and legends abound nationwide, with tales of folk heroes like Al Capone, Babyface Nelson, and John Dillinger. Tall tales are woven around organized crime, wild bootleggers, underground saloons, and well-dressed gangsters. There's something uniquely American about the DIY ethos of taking matters into your own hands, making illegal alcohol, and selling it through clandestine channels; stickin' it to the man like those in the illegal alcohol industry did. These stories are immortalized in movies like The Road To Perdition and Public Enemies, as well as TV series like HBO's Boardwalk Empire and, well, PBS's Prohibition. Many lakeshore towns in Western Michigan have tales of organized crime and bootlegging. Easy access to Lake Michigan meant that bootleggers had easy access to boat routes, safely out of reach of authorities. Booze was funneled in from Canada, then taken by boat to cities all aro
Post a Comment
Read more

August 2023 Holland Photoblog!

 The assignment was to take an old disposable camera that I'd found in the basement, jimmy-rig a polarized filter out of an old pair of sunglasses, then shoot what I saw in and around Downtown Holland, Michigan. Some key takeaways? It's not necessarily worth using a filter like this when the clouds are making diffuse light anyway (except when it is) Rule Of Thirds is a general guideline, and I hope I didn't create too much imbalance Holland has some really cool architecture!   A view of the sidewalk in Holland Heights, looking westward along E. 8th Street The entryway to the Windmill Way subdivision, at the corner of Paw Paw Drive and E. 8th St. A retaining wall looking west on E 8th St, just a bit down the road from Windmill Way Construction in front of Barber Ford, looking westward at US-31.  Background has the Shell Station and the plaza where Ditto and the Secretary Of State office are Barber Ford looking south along Homestead Drive.  Love that Blue Oval! The same const
Post a Comment
Read more