We discovered Port Crescent State Park near Port Austin on Lake Huron at the tip of Michigan's Thumb when we looked for flat-water canoeing in the area. We've visited this park on Lake Huron many times since our trip on the Pinnebog River.
On our most recent trip to the park we walked the Dunes Nature Trail, a three-quarter mile interpretive trail where visitors can learn about sand dune ecology, wildlife, plants and dune forests. Hikers can access one the park's longer hiking and cross-country ski trails or hop off onto part of the park's 900 feet of beachside boardwalk from the nature trail loop.
The Dunes Nature Trail, converted from a 1970s-era fitness trail and completed in 2009 with an Access to Recreation Grant, has a flat-limestone aggregate surface and strategically placed benches, making it accessible for physically challenged visitors.
Port Crescent State Park, and nearby Albert E. Sleeper State Park near Caseville, are two hours from the Detroit area, making them great for campers looking for a quick weekend trip. Port Crescent has fewer campsites than Sleeper, but it has a wider variety of day use activities and barrier-free facilities like a recently added 400-square-foot Camper Cabin with a waterfront view and the Dunes trail.
Port Crescent State Park is on three miles of sandy shoreline along the big lake's Saginaw Bay where visitors can enjoy swimming and walking the beach in addition to hiking, fishing, canoeing, cross-country skiing, birding and (in season) hunting.
The park sits on the former site of a bustling mid-1800s company town where steam-powered sawmills along the Pinnebog employed hundreds of area residents. Others worked at blockhouses where they extracted brine from evaporated water to produce salt.
The town of Port Crescent had a two-story school, Lutheran church, company store, hotel and tavern along its several streets.
One sawmill became so busy salvaging thousands of trees felled in one of the infamous fires experienced by the Midwest in 1871 that it added a 120-foot brick chimney to help power the plant.
In 1881, another fire swept through the Thumb region, destroying the area's timber resources.
The lumber mills closed, as did the firewood-fueled salt plants. Workers dismantled some of the buildings and an 800-foot dock, moving them north to Oscoda, Michigan. Some Port Crescent residents moved their houses to nearby towns. By 1894, all of the buildings in Port Crescent were gone, leaving few traces of the town behind.
The State of Michigan purchased the site for the park during the 1950s.
Today, you'll find remnants of the brick mill chimney and an old steel bridge in the park.
This visit, we drove to the nearby Port Crescent Cemetery to find a geocache. Seeing the town's old burial grounds requires a short walk through the woods (a welcome relief from the record heat while we visited, but a bit mosquito-ridden). The old cemetery had its share of broken headstones, but it seemed reasonably well cared for and gave us a feel for the old ghost town's residents. We found the cache and a few interesting headstones like this one made from bricks used to construct Port Crescent's brick mill chimney.
Want to learn more about the history of Port Crescent and other small towns in the area? Check out Huron County Michigan (Images of America) by the Huron County Historical Society.
© Dominique King 2011 All rights reserved
This definitely looks like a great place to check out. Thanks for the write up! I've actually never been to "the thumb" so I'm looking forward to it! Great photos, too.
Posted by: Things to do in the U.P. | August 25, 2011 at 11:53 AM
This is an especially great park to check out if you enjoy learning about the history of the tip-of-the-Thumb region.
Posted by: Dominique King | August 26, 2011 at 04:46 AM
actually it is one of michigans best kept secrets a short drive to a pristine beach and beautiful sights my grandaughters and i call it our short trip we camp for three days and become beach bums the rest and enjoy port austin harbor at night
Posted by: teresa mcgrath | June 30, 2012 at 07:09 AM
Teresa-Thanks for stopping by! Port Crescent is really a beautiful park...and it never seems really crowded when I've been there. Port Austin is a cute town, although they were working on the public dock last year. Hopefully they have that work completed this year!
Posted by: Dominique King | July 02, 2012 at 05:41 PM