Eastern Time's Latest Sunset Happens Deep in the U.P.
Because Silver City is so far west and north, the sun doesn't set until nearly 10 p.m. on the solstice
Silver City — Time zones are fake in a way, aren’t they? And if not fake, at least arbitrary. I suppose that’s fine. The things that help organize the modern world are arbitrary, yet ultimately do make sense in some way.
New York City 9 a.m. is not Las Vegas 9 a.m. That’s right. So these lines that cut through states and mountain ranges, making one side of Oak Street 9 a.m. and the other 10 a.m, are ultimately necessary, even if the way the clock flips back and forth over invisible lines is a funny little quirk. The clock has to change in some county somewhere, doesn’t it?
Way up north on the southwestern edge of our rather empty Upper Peninsula the time is different than the time in Detroit, Grand Rapids or St. Ignace. The counties that border Wisconsin are on Milwaukee time, which I guess makes sense. If you’ve ever been up there you know that this area really doesn’t have much to do with the rest of the state below the bridge. It’s about a two hour drive from Iron Mountain to Green Bay. It’s more than seven hours to Lansing. It’s Michigan, and it’s the most beautiful Michigan, but it’s not the Michigan most of us know.
Only the counties that directly border the dairyland to the south observe central time. But there are a handful of counties, towns, and people who live directly north of the central time zone border. And fascinatingly, one of these townships is the farthest western point in the entire eastern time zone. Even more interesting, due to the high northern latitude, this township claims the latest sunset in all of the eastern time zone. I had the chance to watch one those latest sunsets during the week of the summer solstice from this final stop in the eastern time zone, where there are far more mosquitoes than humans and the days can be 18 hours long.
Carp Lake Township holds the illustrious title of the last stop before the clocks change. As of 2020 the population was a meager 582 with a population density of just 3.21 people per square mile. To say there isn’t much civilization here is an understatement. The main centers of human life are the small village of White Pine about 6 miles from Lake Superior, and Silver City, which is about 70 feet from the shore.
White Pine is not a ghost town, though it feels like one. Maybe it was the cracking concrete of the empty tennis courts or the old abandoned high school with midcentury font on the wall next to the front door. Or maybe just the still streets and knowledge of the empty land surrounding the tiny village. But whatever it was, it was eerily quiet.
Silver City’s name is not honest. It is not a city by any stretch of the imagination. There is one hotel, the AmericInn, and while it’s not particularly great, it’s right on the water and thusly has a better view than 99.9% of the nicest hotels in the lower peninsula. Paul’s Restaurant and Lounge is attached to the hotel, and it gets the job done. Down the street is Porkies Outpost—part restaurant, part bar, part tourist shop, and part grocery store.
Inside were Mandy and Allie. Both were born here, grew up here, live here, and work here. It can be kind of hard to get much information out of the yoopers way up and out here, and it’s harder to get a picture (they politely declined), but they were friendly, answered some questions, and gave my son an extra slingshot band for the Eagle-themed weapon he had just paid for with his own money. They told me the hardest parts about living here are the mosquitoes and the winters. The best parts about are the tight-knit community and the ability to cruise just about anywhere you want on your side-by-side (ORV). Mandy lived in Howell for a year. She liked the stores, but she hated it there. She’s been here ever since.
Outside of those two modest hubs of human civilization are woods, water, animals, firewood stands by the road, and bold hikers who love the northern woods. The Porcupine Mountains lie to the west of Silver City for those who want to really get away. The Lake of the Clouds is tucked away up and out there for the few who actually come.
The sun set at 9:56 p.m. on June 23, 2026, in Silver City. I watched that golden celestial sphere fall over the water, turning the sky from blue, to pink, to red, to fire, and then slowly back to blue again. The Porcupine Mountains sloping up to the west, the strong waves from Superior crashing onto the rocky shore with a predicable rhythm, a few dribbles of rain from above, the sky painted as a gift for us. The land and water at the last stop of the eastern time zone is empty, rough, heavy, and beautiful.
