Mecosta County, Michigan, USA

Mecosta County lies in Michigan, linking established communities with the surrounding rural and suburban landscape. Big Rapids is the county seat, with the Muskegon River winding through forests, farms and small communities. Timber, farming, railroads and industrialization guided nineteenth- and twentieth-century growth, and later roads broadened the community’s ties to the region. Manufacturing, education, health care, agriculture and regional services remain central. Parks and established neighborhoods give Mecosta County a distinct sense of place.