Michigan Roadside Attractions: Paul Bunyan Made From Car Parts – Alpena

Michigan Roadside Attractions is a periodic feature on Travel the Mitten that will explore the many interesting things that can be found on the highways, byways and back roads of Michigan, ranging from the interesting to unusual.

One of the more unique of Michigan’s many monuments to the great lumberjack Paul Bunyan can be found on the campus of Alpena Community College in Alpena. Standing nearly 30 feet tall, this statue was constructed in the 1960s from Kaiser automobile fenders and hoods. It originally stood on top of a gas station in Gaylord, then moved to Grayling and other locations before finding a home at ACC in 1988.

Getting to this statue is pretty easy – the ACC campus is located on Johnson St. just a block east of US-23. The Besser Museum is right next door and features one of our previous Roadside Attractions: the Stainless Steel Eagle sculpture by Tom Moran. We also featured another Paul Bunyan statue that is a few miles south on US-23 in Ossineke – Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, as well as a tribute to the legendary lumberjack in Oscoda. Other Paul Bunyan statues in Michigan can be found at Castle Rock in St. Ignace and alongside US-2 in Manistique.