The village of Scio was located at mile 46 on the Michigan Central Railroad. It was founded as a mill town by Samuel Foster.
References
The other surviving bridges also served mill towns. Samuel Foster, a miller from Massachusetts, answered Dexter's invitation to work at his mill in Dexter. Eventually Foster started his own mill downstream, where Zeeb Road crosses the Huron; the village of Scio grew around it.
- Scio Village: ghost town with a past : ninety years of forgotten history, 1827-1917, Nicholas A. Marsh, BookMasters, 1995. snippet view on Google
- The Mills of Scio Village, Catherine Marquardt, washtenaw county parks and recreation news, 2006
The Burns-Stokes Preserve is home to not only a stunning natural area along the Huron River, but also to a fascinating history of human stories. Some may already be familiar with the most recent chapter marked by a circular stone foundation nestled against a hill. The former owners, Rick Burns and Nancy Stokes, along with friends built this structure to host potlucks every Saturday night for 25 years. Another historical remnant is a small foundation and chimney from a former cabin built by Boy Scouts in the 1920s. But the most puzzling trace may be the large berm, extending from Zeeb Road down to the Huron River. The mystery of this earthen embankment was uncovered by the discovery of a book by Nicholas A. Marsh, Scio Village: A Ghost Town with a Past, 90 Years of Forgotten History, 1827-1917. Marsh gives an excellent historical portrait of daily life in a village along the Huron River, including stories of families, an infamous tavern, the railroad and bustling businesses. When Europeans arrived in 1822, after the U.S. Government opened Washtenaw County for settlement, they found the Potowatami Indians living in the area, supporting themselves through hunting, fishing, and farming.
