TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (Great Lakes News) – Sometimes a rise to world fame has very humble beginnings; it proved true for Colantha Walker, the wonder cow.

The Northern Michigan Asylum opened in 1885 and eventually grew into a giant complex on the outskirts of Traverse City, Michigan.  At one point, the 3,500 residents of the hospital complex outnumbered the population of the city.

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The Asylum was self-sufficient with its own farms, gardens, fire department, and power plant.  It had its own orchards of peaches, apples and cherries, its own vineyards and vegetable gardens, and field crops along with a wide variety of livestock including a herd of cows.  The most famous of these herd cows was Colantha Walker, a grand champion milk cow and the most famous inhabitant of the asylum.

In her long and storied career, which ran from 1916 to 1932,  she produced 200,114 pounds of milk and 7,525 pounds of butterfat.  In 1926, which proved to be her best year, Colantha’s annual production set a world record: 22,918 pounds of milk.  The official state average was 3,918 pounds.

When Colantha went to her reward in 1932, the staff and patients of the asylum held a banquet in her honor and erected a huge granite tombstone over her grave.

The Asylum closed in 1989 but the 500 acre property is being revitalized.  The old asylum buildings are creamy brick and are architecturally spectacular.  The complex is being transformed into an entire town with unique shops, galleries, restaurants, apartments, and condominiums.  Even if the tomb were not there, it is worth a visit just to see the gigantic structure that was once the asylum.

The Tomb of the Cow is tucked away on the south edge of the property near the old original barns. The engraved stone sits between two trees at a curve in the road just south of two champion Black Willow trees.  She is the only resident of the asylum to be buried on the grounds.

Colantha’s accomplishments are commemorated by a Dairy Festival on the grounds each year.

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For more information visit Michigan Back Roads.

 

Directions: The Commons is just off U.S. 31.  When you drive in, keep to the left to find the barns and the tomb.