June 2019 – Camp Michigan

I often wonder about what will become the next state park. I have always wanted to visit the remote 14 Mile Point Lighthouse located on Lake Superior near Ontanogon. It is privately owned but has been for sale for a long time, about ten years I think. I thought it would be nice if the land could be purchased by a grant or from a non-profit and donated to the state. It would make for a nice tourist attraction and possibly help to preserve or restore the historic lighthouse.

Built in the late 1890s the lighthouse was discontinued in 1955 and sold for $5,200 in 1957. Tragically in 1984, the lighthouse caught on fire from a campfire that was not properly extinguished. The brick walls and cast iron lantern room is all that remains of the lighthouse. The lighthouse is in an extremely remote area without any roads leading to it.

The Lighthouse and property are currently for sale for $890,000. unfortunately, I don’t have that kind of money laying around but It seems like it would be something that would make for a nice park on Lake Superior. You can see more about the property HERE

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Near the entrance of the Port Crescent State Park campground, near the tip of the Thumb, is a round brick structure. It is what remains of a chimney that once reached into the sky in the town of Port Crescent. The town started in 1844 with a trading post and a hotel. It was named Pinnebog for the river that flowed next to it. Another town further upstream also took the name Pinnebog and so the town changed the name to Port Crescent.

During the late 1800s, the town prospered with two sawmills, a wagon factory, hotels, a brewery and several other businesses for the more than 500 people who called the town home. After the devastating fires swept through the thumb in 1871 and ten years later in 1881 the timber in the region was depleted and the decline of the town began. By 1894 most of the buildings were gone and only a few people remained to ship sand from the are to be used in glass making until 1936.

The state acquired 124 acres of property along the Saginaw Bay where the town once stood for a new state park. Port Crescent State Park was officially established on September 6, 1959.

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Monthly Archives: June 2019

The Next State Park?

From Ghost Town to State Park