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Mitte is German for middle or mid, as in Midwest, the geographical designation for 12 US states (1), one of which is Michigan. The Great Lakes State’s Lower (i.e. southern) Peninsula is often called the Mitten, not because of any German connection, but for its similarity to the fingerless glove type of that name (2).

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Imagine a right hand glove facing you, and Saginaw Bay is where the fingers diverge from the thumb. The Mitten then becomes a Rudimentary Positioning System for any location in the Lower Peninsula (LP). If you live in Detroit, for example, you could point to the area below the thumb to indicate your location. For Grand Rapids, touch a spot just inwards from the middle of the Mitten’s left side.

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But it would be geographically more precise to ditch the mitten simile – take it off, as it were – and go two steps further. Comparing the LP to an actual, uncovered hand allows for a much more detailed topography. Also using the other hand (3) adds the Upper Peninsula (UP). We now have the entire state laid out before us. Annoyingly, the only thing missing is a third hand, to point to all the locations this impromptu double mains map unlocks. This picture might help.

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In the Upper Peninsula:

• The little finger represents the Keweenaw Peninsula, jutting out northeastwards into Lake Superior. The peninsula, Michigan’s northernmost point, is the result of the oldest known lava flow on Earth, consisting largely of almost pure recoverable copper, and was the site of a copper boom from the middle of the 19th century onwards. Copper Harbor (“Tops in Michigan!”) sits at the top of the pinkie.
• The thumb represents where the Upper Peninsula tapers off in the south, squeezed from the east by Green Bay (4), an arm of Lake Michigan, and from the west by the Menominee River, which forms the border with Wisconsin. Where the river flows into Green Bay, the town of Menominee (5) forms the tip of the thumb (and the Upper Peninsula’s southernmost town).
• The middle finger can be equated with the UP’s easternmost protuberance (which is actually not on the UP mainland): Drummond Island in Lake Huron – next stop Cockburn Island, Ontario.
• With a bit of fantasy, the tip of the ring finger stands for Whitefish Point, which juts out of the northern side of the UP, and the tip middle (6) of the index finger stands for St Ignace, which connects the Upper with the Lower Peninsula via the Mackinac Bridge.

In the Lower Peninsula:

• The pinkie’s tip is Northport, on the Leelanau Peninsula. Northport has a knack of attracting rich and famous residents, among whom the comedian Tim Allen, and the father of Madonna, a well-known Michigan actress and singer.
• The tip of the ring finger could then be identified with the part of the Lower Peninsula washed by Little Traverse Bay, from Charlevoix in the west (squeezed between Lake Michigan and Lake Charlevoix) to Petoskey in the east.
• The middle finger’ tip corresponds with the Lower Peninsula’s northernmost point, at Mackinaw City (also the southern terminus of the Mackinac Bridge). Although less a city than a town (with under a thousand permanent residents), this is Michigan’s most popular tourist destination.
• The Lower Michigan shore east of Mackinac City meanders off without any promontory that could easily be identified with the index finger, except maybe Rogers City, by virtue of its being the biggest town on this stretch of the Lake Huron shoreline. Or maybe Alpena, located after the Lower Peninsula shoreline bends due south. Alpena has the distinction of being the birthplace of Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of president McKinley (+1901) and a location in Die Hard 2.
• The area of the thumb, separated from the other fingers by Saginaw Bay, is actually known as… The Thumb. The extent of the area thus described varies, but always included are Huron county (on the thumb’s tip, in the middle of this which is the intriguingly named town of Bad Axe, after a faulty implement of that type found on the site), and Sanilac and Tuscola counties, directly to the south of Huron county. At the bottomest part of the bay, corresponding with the webby part of your hand between your thumb and index finger (there must be a more professional anatomical description) is Bay City, home of the aforementioned entertainer Madonna, and of Howard Avis, founder of the Avis Rent-A-Car company.