Singapore: The Ghost Town Under the Dunes
Near Holland, Michigan
Somewhere beneath the sand dunes at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River lies a buried city. Singapore, Michigan was founded in eighteen thirty-six by New York land speculators who believed it would rival Chicago as a Great Lakes port. At its peak it held a few hundred residents, three sawmills, two hotels, and a general store.
The great Chicago fire of eighteen seventy-one accelerated its end: the surrounding forests were stripped bare to supply the lumber for rebuilding. With no trees left to hold the dunes in place, the sand began to move. By eighteen seventy-five Singapore was empty, and within a few years its buildings had disappeared under the dunes.
Photographs from that era show chimneys and rooftops poking out of the sand like gravestones. Today nothing is visible at all. The town is still there, somewhere below your feet.
