As with many of Michigan counties, there are differences of opinion as to where the county name originated, and this county is no exception.   Some claim this county name came from a Native American word meaning, "a good partridge country." Other historians say the name was not a Native American word, it was a word created by Henry Schoolcraft which meant "the partridge" because of all the fowl he saw in the area. The word is Alpena, and Alpena county is in the northeast corner of the lower peninsula right where the Thunder Bay River spills into Lake Huron . The name Thunder Bay probably came from the unpredictable weather in that area. Murky fog, sudden storms and rocky shoals cause a lot of ships to pile up, and Thunder Bay is also known as "Shipwreck Alley." Many vessels have sunk off Alpena County . Over eighty shipwrecks can be found in the Thunder Bay Underwater Preserve, which makes it a very popular scuba diving area. Some wrecks are only 12 feet under the surface; others are as deep as 180 feet. Some of the wrecked ships are largely intact. However, these known wrecks are only a portion of the wrecks that have occurred over the years. Many are still undiscovered. The rocky shoals also hold a number of fish, and coupled with some productive inland lakes, you can find good fishing year round in Alpena County .

Alpena County Websites and Locations of Interest

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mi/state/orphan/alpena/ - Alpena county history

http://thunderbay.noaa.gov/   -Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary