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.

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. 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

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

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

Copper Harbor to I-75
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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.

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