Fred Atwood's home and Cidertorium, on Grand River, just west of Laingsburg.

I am pretty sure I was living here in 1969. Not sure 100% though. I remember getting on the school bus living in that house and I was born in 1964. Fred was living in a new house next door. Fred passed away in '70 or '71. He left both houses, cidertorium and 38 acres to my grandparents as he had no family. My parents were renting this house when he passed away. They bought the new house next door from my grandparents. My dad ran the cidertorium for about 6 years. My dad still lives there. A few years back we sold the cider press and grinder that were over 100 yrs old to the oakley tractor club. They have it in a building, running on display. The Oakley tractor show is this weekend from August 19th-21st.

Ron, here is an interesting story on Fred Atwood. He and my dad, Louie Danek of Owosso were friends, and Dad knew Fred's past and how he had made a living at times. So he invited Fred to a Sunday dinner and asked him to teach my older brother and me (teens) why one should never play poker with someone he didn't know. So Fred had our deck of cards, and was shuffling them and talking to us about poker, the hands ranking, etc, for a few minutes, then said "Let's play a few hands." Fred was dealing all the time, and while brother Bob and I got what we thought were winners, Fred always had a better hand. We couldn't see him doing anything funny, but I'm sure he was marking and "creatively dealing" so he always won. He was an interesting guy for sure. I was told some interesting stories about his pool days, too. I still remember visiting the cidertorium when quite young. Neat place.

Hi Michael! Thank you for sharing such a fascinating story about Fred Atwood and your family. It sounds like a memorable Sunday dinner indeed! We're always curious to learn more about the history of Clinton County, MI. Also, have there been any significant changes in the area since the aerial photo was taken in 1969?