How This Michigan Town Accidentally Buried Itself in Sand
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Published 2024-02-19
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Video written by Amy Muller
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All Comments (21)
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“No thank you”, which is Midwestern for “over my dead body” Made me cackle from how true it is
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Even with the knowledge of this being Singapore, Michigan, hearing the name constantly is really weird for a guy who's lived in Singapore, Singapore for all my life.
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Fun fact: The steeple of the Singapore church periodically disappears and reappears every few years as the dunes shift around. It’s currently buried and iirc has been gone for 6-8 years now. Maybe it’ll show back up soon!
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It's amusing to think that one day that town will be dug up by future archeologists much like other buried cities in history.
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I'm actually from this area of Michigan! If you go to Saugatuck, MI and go take the Saugatuck Dune Rides, there's a point where occasionally you can see the top of the old bank poke out from the sands as the dunes shift. Also would just recommend visiting Saugatuck in general. There's a plaque in downtown near the city hall which talks about Singapore. Great summertime vacation spot on Lake Michigan. Edit: It's pronounced "SAW-guh-tuck," not "Sag-GUH-tuck."
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5:32 HAI recognizes an independent Somaliland!
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Fun enough, the 'Dune' book (from where the 'Dune' film comes from) was inspired by real sand containment efforts in Oregon. Writing about the ecology of actual dunes made Frank Herbert ask himself: "Why if I write a book about the ecology of whole PLANET of dunes. With giant sand worms. And space bedouins. And everybody is on drugs. Space drugs". And nobody thought it was a good idea: the book was rejected by about THIRTY publishers.
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A real life case where “I don’t like sand. It’s rough, and coarse, and irritating, and it gets everywhere” has weight.
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This is the most normal thing in Michigan
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Dunes. Dunes. Dunes. Dunes! Dunes! DUNES! DUNES!
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2:37 "Sam's home address (No, is not P. sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney) ". Gosh darn, we were gonna rescue Amy from her kidnappe----I mean, her very nice employer. Now what.
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Ironically, Singapore (the Asian one) has been criticized in the recent years for buying up sand from poorer Asian countries to fuel construction. There's even a strategic sand reserve under one of the beaches.
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I hike the dune forests of West MI all the time. It's beautiful. I'm so lucky to have been born here. I'm just a bit north of that nearly buried house in Mears. Charles Mears did the same thing as Singapore, and now people go there to whip doughnuts in the sand at silver lake state Park.
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Idea: move Singapore's sand to Singapore so Singapore has greater landmass.
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I love Amy's dune demonstrations! This instantly made me think of highway ice plant in California, which was planted everywhere to stabilize coastal dunes (and highway embankments), but because the roots are so shallow it actually speeds up erosion. Also it burns surprisingly easy for a succulent, which is extra awesome for a wildfire-prone state!!
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I know a Singapore that could use that sand for further land reclamation.
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So this explains why Saugatuck-Douglas are so far inland while all the other ports I’ve been at (from Holland originally) have harbors closer to the channels leading to Lake Michigan. Edit: they did turn the dunes into a dune-ride tourist attraction though!
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For anyone traveling to Michigan check out Sleeping Bear Dunes, a couple hours north of Singapore. A difficult hike but intensely beautiful!
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I mean this is about sustainable farming because this is exactly what will happen if you don't farm sustainably. Like the word sustainable isn't some fun hippy word, it refers to the ability to be able to keep doing something over the long term, if something is unsustainable then by definition it will collapse at some point and that is never fun.
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I had ancestors in Singapore. It’s a fascinating part of history. Today, Saugatuck is basically built over where Singapore once was, and you would never think there was once a city there. That is how the lake goes, though. Sometimes it just… buries a town for disturbing its peace.
