Twenty miles southeast of Jackson – and just a tad east of Michigan International Speedway – lies the township of Cambridge in Lenawee County, just a few hairs away from Jackson County. This intersection (US-12 & M-50), which is home to Walker Tavern, the historic Hewitt House, and Cambridge Junction Historic State Park, can also be referred to as the “gateway to the Irish Hills”.
The highway now known as US-12 was originally the Sauk Trail, used by Native American tribes from the 1700s to the early 1800s. It became a military road, laid out in 1825, and the main route for stagecoaches between Detroit & Chicago.
In 1833 Norman Geddes arrived from New York, bought land, and settled here in 1835. That same year, a number of citizens gathered in Butterfield’s Inn and chose the name ‘Cambridge’ for their township. It also became the name of the little village at the intersection of M-50 and US-12. It was originally listed as “Cambridge P.O.” and later shortened to just “Cambridge” as seen in the old atlases below.
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Now it is known as “Cambridge Junction”, even though it doesn’t get listed on maps…