There is No Spot in America Farther from an Interstate Highway than Copper Harbor, Michigan

The Interstate Highway System connects the continental United States from coast to coast east to west and north to south. And this spot in Michigan is as far as you can get from an Interstate.

Of course, the farthest point from an interstate in the entire United States would be in Alaska. But how about the Lower 48? Surprisingly, it's in Michigan.

Yes, Michigan, with its 13 different Interstate trunk lines totaling 1239 miles, also boasts the one spot on the maps that's farther than anywhere else from an Interstate. That spot is the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula in Copper Harbor in Michigan's rural Upper Peninsula.

CityLab did some math and found

Copper Harbor and Eagle Harbor, which are, respectively, 251 and 238 driving miles from Interstate 39 in Rothschild, Wisconsin. I believe they are the farthest towns in the continental United States from an Interstate Highway, and they look the part, like an artist's sketches for Hemingway's stories of the Upper Peninsula. Eagle Harbor has a population of 76, Copper Harbor 108.

Did you catch that? Interstate 39 in Wisconsin is the closest Interstate to the Keweenaw Peninsula, not Interstate 75 in the Eastern Upper Peninsula near Sault Ste Marie. The junction with Michigan's Interstate 75 is not even the 2nd closest interstate to teh Keweenaw. That goes to I-535 in Suprior, Wisconsin, across the border from Duluth. Here's how the numbers look.

We used the intersection of US 41 and M-26 (6th Street at Gratiot Street) as our starting point in Copper Harbor.

Copper Harbor to Interstate 39 near Wausau, Wisconsin - 237 Miles

Copper Harbor to Interstate 535 in Superior, Wisconsin - 258 Miles

Copper Harbor to Interstate 75 at M-28 south of Sault Ste. Marie - 300 Miles

Being so far away from an Interstate, perhaps you've never had the chance to venture to Copper Harbor. Here's what the town looks like.

Traveling non-interstate roads may get you nostalgic for the highways of yesterday like Route 66. Here are some can't-miss locations on the old Mother Road.