  Amy_p Member Username: Amy_p Post Number: 845 Registered: 10-2003 |
I've never been there, and all of a sudden am fascinated by living on an island so close to the city. I know nothing about it (other than what I'm Googling, of course). Info? Thoughts? Vibe? | ||
Vetalalumni Member Username: Vetalalumni Post Number: 730 Registered: 05-2007 |
Grosse Isle (GI) is an interesting place. Formerly a stop-over for the Underground Railroad, escaping slaves bound for Canada would stop on GI. There might be an historical designation on GI. Many beautiful homes (some very old) and boat owners on GI. Relatively quiet community and a lot of old-timers. Lot of history associated w-GI. | ||
Gazhekwe Member Username: Gazhekwe Post Number: 504 Registered: 08-2007 |
You are dependent on the bridges to leave and come home with your car. That's teh only down side I see. I suppose if you are near the water you could have a boat. | ||
Nainrouge Member Username: Nainrouge Post Number: 247 Registered: 05-2006 |
Grosse Ile has good schools and is a quiet community. It is expensive to live on the water, but relatively cheap to live further inland. There is little shopping there, so you have to cross the bridge to go to Trenton for that although there is a grocery store, restaurants a small hardware store etc. on the island. My brother lives there and moved a house from one side of the island to the other http://www.coldjensens.com | ||
Raptor56 Member Username: Raptor56 Post Number: 95 Registered: 05-2007 |
Grosse Isle even has its own litigation drama right now. The city lost the fight and a lawsuit trying to claim eminent domain on the island's toll bridge. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=20077090503 14 | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 10154 Registered: 10-2003 |
If you haven't used the realestateone.com site yet it is pretty neat. I don't work for REOne but their mapping feature is pretty cool. In order to be able to scroll to the property info you have to zoo in on an area with less than 150 places for sale but here is a link to the site zoomed partially on GI: **Warning - No matter were you live in Michigan the map feature can scare you with so many homes for sale** http://reone.mapmuse.com/re1/m ap_reone_re1.php?sp_theme=REO& pan=&recenterX=&recenterY=&zoo mlevel=&imgbox=132+1+438+365&z oomBand=1&extent=-83.185889531 5+42.1201925165+-83.1152934103 +42.1656325007&noOfLayers=1&la yer=&layerx=&remove=&imgext=-1 29.88+22.766+-61.83+51.95&rawm inx=117.830193&rawminy=-42.704 092&rawmaxx=155.269129&rawmaxy =-8.412631&singlePoint=&stick= &latitude=&longitude=&symbolNa me=&sp_table=&sp_id=&sp_zoom=& agtid=&setPoint=&setStick=&set Lat=&setLong=&setSymbol=&goto= &gotoLoc=&matchLine1=&matchLin e2=&spet=&image_url=%2Fusr%2Ft mp1%2F1189716009141151.gif&map _width=2.5&main_topic=REONE&ma chine=reone.mapmuse.com&direct ory=re1&map_name=map_reone_re1 &doScr=156&otm=&mp_table=&mp_i ds=&demoLat=42.14291&demoLong= -83.15059&demoScale=536.756428 571&lFn=&layer0=REONE&layer1=& chkTopic=REONE&searchDD01=&sea rchMM01=&searchMM101=&searchMM 02=&searchMM102=&searchMM03=&s earchMM103=&txtAddr=&txtCity=& txtState=&txtZip=&select=2&sel MoreTops=null | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 1927 Registered: 01-2004 |
"am fascinated by living on an island so close to the city" If you want to call Trenton a "city" | ||
Amy_p Member Username: Amy_p Post Number: 847 Registered: 10-2003 |
Nainrounge, your brother's site is very cool. I still have more to explore there.  Raptor56, at first glance, I thought you were telling me that Grosse Ile had a troll bridge, which would be either fascinating or terrifying. Jtl, yeah, I've been playing on that today, exploring the island. and Mauser, I've never been to Trenton, but did think Grosse Ile was closer to the D than it apparently is. I think I'll go spend a few hours at the one bar on the island to take the pulse of the place. ;) | ||
Blueidone Member Username: Blueidone Post Number: 134 Registered: 03-2007 |
I have a lady friend who lives right on the canal that runs through the island. She and her husband (now deceased) bought a small home many years ago before the increase in prices and added onto it. It is a beautiful home now with a huge deck that looks out over the canal. When they moved from Dearborn (he was a Ford retiree) he was working as a salesman and had to drive 65 or 70 miles each way to his office. But he always said that it was worth it to live on Grosse Ile. I've heard the schools are great but have no personal knowledge. Traffic can get bad at times, but that's a given around Detroit. Given the money and opportunity, I think I might want to live there. | ||
Gsgeorge Member Username: Gsgeorge Post Number: 198 Registered: 08-2006 |
Cadillac's first night on the straits was spent at a camp on Grosse Isle's north end. He and his fellow explorers came in from the north through Lake St. Clair, passed the site at which Detroit would be founded, stayed on Grosse Isle, and then made landfall at Detroit the next morning. (Message edited by gsgeorge on September 13, 2007) | ||
Saintme Member Username: Saintme Post Number: 55 Registered: 08-2006 |
Grosse I-L-E | ||
Nainrouge Member Username: Nainrouge Post Number: 250 Registered: 05-2006 |
Actually, it use to be spelled Grosse I-S-L-E They changed it to I-L-E. | ||
Fareastsider Member Username: Fareastsider Post Number: 587 Registered: 08-2006 |
The view of downtown from the road on the east end of the island near the north end is amazing. | ||
Japes Member Username: Japes Post Number: 28 Registered: 02-2007 |
There are 2 bridges to the Island, one Free that the County owns near Elizabeth park, and the toll one on the north end. The Free bridge is closed until December so you are forced to use the toll bridge until the free bridge is repaired | ||
Hpgrmln Member Username: Hpgrmln Post Number: 166 Registered: 06-2007 |
They had a hole-in-the-wall bar across from the airport that made the best hamburger I have EVER had, and I have had a few.I hope the place is still there. | ||
Novine Member Username: Novine Post Number: 132 Registered: 07-2007 |
For several years, they had an active land conservation effort to protect some of the remaining greenspaces on the island. That might still be on-going but another plus for the island community. http://www.ginlc.org/ | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 10176 Registered: 12-2003 |
The island can be a Peyton Place of neighborly drama...from my perception of the friends and clients who lived there. More than ANY other area of Metro Detroit than any except Birmingham and some of the Bloomfields, from what I gathered. Many people are drawn there because it has a natural moat from the evils of the mainland...but that creates a closed system that fosters some creative ego bumping, backfighting, and other bad behavior. As for the island beauty...if you want to get into watersports, it is a boater's haven...and the real estate values are remarkably reasonable for the exclusivity of the area. I've always liked Grosse Ile, but never experienced the socio-politics like those who've lived there. I'd give you about two or three days after moving in before you started plotting mass murder, Amy_p. You wouldn't even need to unpack more than your backup ammunition! That said, it would be a great place to start popping papooses and papettes, if you're growing in that direction. | ||
Crash_nyc Member Username: Crash_nyc Post Number: 1026 Registered: 08-2004 |
Jt1: http://tinyurl.com/ | ||
Upinottawa Member Username: Upinottawa Post Number: 938 Registered: 09-2005 |
I understand that there is an unfinished tunnel that was intended to run from Grosse Ile to Essex County. | ||
Spitty Member Username: Spitty Post Number: 607 Registered: 07-2004 |
If you have an airplane, Grosse Ile has it's own airport. My college roommate's girlfriend was from there and her parents had a small plane that they would use to go up north. | ||
Neilr Member Username: Neilr Post Number: 578 Registered: 06-2005 |
Upon her death in 1866, Elizabeth "Lisette" Denison Forth, a former slave and long time resident of Grosse Isle and Detroit, left her estate for the establishment of St. James Chapel on Grosse Isle. | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 1929 Registered: 01-2004 |
Make sure an get the hell off the EEL before rush hour - yikes ! That one bridge thing blows. Mmmmmm....whats that smell? Nice big power plant right there too. | ||
Amy_p Member Username: Amy_p Post Number: 848 Registered: 10-2003 |
That's the other kind of thing I was wondering about, Mauser... if the environs off the island intruded much. | ||
Flybydon Member Username: Flybydon Post Number: 170 Registered: 01-2005 |
"I have EVER had, and I have had a few.I hope the place is still there."  Hpgrmln: Yep, it’s still there. (Airport Inn) We call it the one hundred dollar hamburger joint. By the time we fly to and from Grosse Isle airport, eat and have a few sodas it has cost us an easy hundred. The burgers are good but not outstanding. | ||
Ericdetfan Member Username: Ericdetfan Post Number: 179 Registered: 02-2007 |
My grandparents have a home on the island, but my grandpa has alzhimers so they moved him into a care facility. No one currently lives in the home, but my uncle and I take turns going to the island to cut the grass and get the mail. I used to go there every christmas when they had their annual christmas party. Its one of my fondest memories. The island is very serene to visit. I lived in Woodhaven briefly in 2003 and would go to the island every day. I find it very relaxing, even just to drive around on. There arent many places to sit by the shore though. The only one I know of is the St. Annes church parking lot (which is gravel) on the eastern side of the island. Everyone I met from there has been friendly. In fact, I just got back from a trip there yesterday. I went there to relax and it worked out well. I took my camera like i usually do and will share the pics on here once I have uploaded them. | ||
Lmr Member Username: Lmr Post Number: 99 Registered: 03-2007 |
My mother cleaned houses on Grosse Ile from 1964 until about 1989. The earlier poster's remark about it being a "Peyton Place" was 100% accurate...lots of marriage and divorce dramas during those years. Grosse Ile used to be a place where pretty much everyone knew everyone but I am sure that has changed a bit. I always thought a lot of the people, while nice, reminded me of "society wannabes". Like a lot of downriver, you will find that a larger percentage of people than you expect even up into their 60's and 70's have never lived within the city of Detroit itself. Grosse Ile was never a big target for people moving from Detroit. | ||
Ericdetfan Member Username: Ericdetfan Post Number: 180 Registered: 02-2007 |
pictures from my visit yesterday http://smg.photobucket.com/alb ums/v339/ericexp/gi/ | ||
Oldestuff Member Username: Oldestuff Post Number: 45 Registered: 01-2007 |
it's too late now, but next year, try to take the Diamond Jack downriver excursion. It leaves from Bishop Park, Wyandotte, Thurs - Sun. and takes you around Grosse Ile and gives a nice history of some of the mansions on the river, including James Vernor one of the Fords, a man named Waterman who invented the outboard motor and lots of other interesting facts. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 10197 Registered: 12-2003 |
Why does that last line seem a setup for a pun? Maybe not, but there is some poetry that a fellow named WATERman worked on boat motors...and invented interesting facts. What? |
