Mt. Maria Ski Area

Mt. Maria Ski Area near Spruce, Michigan, sat at the south end of Hubbard Lake, on Hubbard Lake Road north of Lincoln in the northeast corner of the Lower Peninsula. Maury and Iva Cornelius planned and developed it with a crew of local helpers. Bulldozers started clearing the wooded hill in September 1964, and the area opened to skiers just after the holidays that winter. The view from the top took in the whole lake.

The first lifts were a Pomalift and two rope tows serving five slopes of 600 to 1,500 feet, with snowmaking and night skiing from the early seasons. In 1976 Mt. Maria put in a double chairlift, cut two new trails, built a new ski shop and added snowmaking. By the mid 1980s it advertised a vertical drop of 285 feet, four open slopes and three trails, running from the Bunny Hill to Baker, then Chute, and finally the steep, mogul-covered Mount Mariah run. The rustic log day lodge had a wall of glass facing the slopes, a cafe and cocktail lounge, and the rental shop sat at the top of the hill. School ski clubs from Alpena and Oscoda and airmen from Wurtsmith Air Force Base filled the night sessions.

Maury Cornelius managed the lodge until 1980. New owners in the early 1980s changed the spelling to Mount Mariah so people would say it the way they meant it, rhyming with the wind rather than the girl's name. The property changed hands several more times and became Timber Creek Resorts in 1990, and the ski operation closed for good in 1991. The open slopes are still visible from the air, the old lodge was later fitted out as a restaurant, and a 2009 land listing offered about 100 acres as the Mt Maria Preserve. Mt Maria Boulevard and the Maria Hills subdivision keep the name on the map.