10 Places Not to Miss in Michigan’s Thumb

Mar 24

When it comes to going up north in Michigan, it seems like The Thumb isn’t considered nearly as much as the Lake Michigan side of the state. Here at MiRoadtrip, we love The Thumb and everything it offers! Pristine beaches, art installations, lighthouses, and unique history are all easy to find on even just a day trip through Michigan’s Thumb.

For the sake of transparency, we wanted to classify what we considered to be The Thumb while writing this article. We drew a straight line from Quanicassee to Port Huron, which resembles the dimple created in the armpit of your hand. Anything north of that line on our website was considered!

Albert E. Sleeper State Park

First things first, we figured we would start with our favorite state park in The Thumb. Albert E. Sleeper was Michigan’s 29th governor and signed the State Parks Act, which created our modern State Park System in 1919.

Huron County created a park within the modern footprint of Sleeper State Park in 1925, but it was taken over by the State Park System in 1927. Initially christened Huron State Park, it was renamed after Sleeper in 1944, ten years after his death.

The campground at Sleeper offers 225 sites that are surrounded by wooden wilderness. There’s also a small playground, a modern shower building, and water spigots throughout the park.

Across M-25 from the campground lies the day-use area, and there’s a pedestrian bridge available for camper’s use. The day-use area has a half-mile of beach that offers both sunrises and sunsets over Lake Huron.

Back over in the campground, there are a few miles of hiking trails, frogs galore, and a lively stock of Gypsy Moth Caterpillars. The latter is a non-native species and on windy days will fall out of trees and be seen all over the park.

Located two and a half hours from Detroit and under two hours from Flint, Sleeper State Park is a beautiful natural getaway that doesn’t take too long to venture off to. Plus, you’ll have service on both Verizon and AT&T, so you can finish up any work you may have neglected to do before leaving home!

Harbor Beach

Second on our list is one of our favorite towns in The Thumb, Harbor Beach. Initially settled in the 1850s as Barnettsville, the town was renamed Sand Beach sometime later. It was renamed again before the turn of the century, and Harbor Beach was born.

Harbor Beach is home to the largest artificial freshwater harbor in the world, which is easily viewable and swimmable from Judge James H. Lincoln Memorial Park. A boardwalk out into the harbor offers a wonderful view of the town, the Harbor Beach Light, and many local birds.

Frank Murphy, a United States Supreme Court Justice, was born here in 1890. He is most known for his dissent on the Korematsu v. United States decision, which upheld the exclusion of Japanese Americans during WWII. He stated at the time that the ruling followed "the abhorrent and despicable treatment of minority groups by the dictatorial tyrannies which this nation is now pledged to destroy."

Frank Murphy is remembered in Harbor Beach at the Murphy Museum, a downtown staple. If museums aren’t your thing, check out the Harbor Beach Marina, grab a baked good from Pat’s Baker, a slice of pizza at Ernesto’s Pizzeria, or get to know the locals over a burger and some fried pickles at Smalley’s Bar.

Whether you’re looking for a new small town to explore, a place to grab a bit to eat, or a jumping-off point for your adventures in the thumb, Harbor Beach has you covered!

Ezhibiigaadek Asin (Sanilac Petroglyphs)

Heading a little more off the beaten track for our third thumb favorite, this location has a history that could date back as far as 1,400 years, and odds are, you may have never heard of it.

Ezhibiigaadek Asin means written in stone in Anishinaabemowin, the language of the Ojibwe. Since their discovery by the white man, they have also been called the Sanilac Petroglyphs. They are Native American teachings carved into a large stone outcropping hundreds of years ago overlooking the Cass River. Their age has been approximated anywhere between 400 and 1,400 years old, meaning that they were carved before anyone of European descent stepped foot in Michigan.

In the summer of 1881, a large fire decimated much of The Thumb, killing nearly 300 people and burning over a million acres to the ground. Once surrounded by dense woods and brush, the large outcropping of rock was revealed and discovered by whites for the first time.

Unfortunately, the site was not properly preserved until over 100 years later. It became a state park in 1971 but wasn’t fenced off and covered until the 1990s. In the time between, weather, vandals, and robbers have taken their toll on the historic site. Rain and wind wore away at them, vandals carved, smashed, and painted them, and robbers stole pieces from the rock.

Starting in 2019, the project was co-managed by the DNR and the Saginaw Chippewa Nation. There are free guided tours, which are extremely helpful in understanding the place as a whole. There’s also a 2-mile trail that follows the Cass River that starts and ends near the carvings, which is very enjoyable. The bugs can be a little pesky in the summer but are well worth it!

Bad Axe City Park

In the heart of downtown Bad Axe sits a large park with a playground, sports fields, and a historical log cabin village. No matter what you’re into, odds are, this park has something for you to enjoy!

The park is divided into two sides by Hanselman Street, with the playground, a pavilion, tennis courts, and the Bad Axe Area District Library on the east side of the street. The other side houses basketball courts, baseball fields, and Pioneer Log Village and Historica Museum.

The village site is the largest collection of pioneer log cabins in the state, assembled starting in the 1980s from various places around The Thumb. There’s a chapel, blacksmith shop, school, general store, home, and a barn. Although it’s only open on Sundays from 2-4 from Memorial Day to Labor Day, you can explore the village seven days a week.

Located just off the main drag of downtown Bad Axe, City Park is worth a visit for anyone who enjoys sports, history, or has kids who want to stop and play at the playground.

Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse

There are a lot of lighthouses in The Thumb, but the one marking the reef off Point Aux Barques is undoubtedly one of the most famous. The light was first lit in 1848 and was replaced in 1857. A Lifesaving Station would soon accompany the lighthouse to save sailors from sunken ships.

The Lifesaving Station would close in the 1930s, and at some point thereafter, the lighthouse was electrified and automated. Although mostly unnecessary today, the light still operates, and the keeper’s quarters have been turned into a museum. Although this is an extremely popular lighthouse, on two occasions, we’ve had it entirely to ourselves.

The park surrounding the lighthouse is sprawling and is complete with a playground, campground, and lots of green space. The Lake Huron waterfront is rocky and battered, and on windy days waves crash so high they can spray those standing at the water’s edge.

The campground is maintained by the Huron County Parks and has a boat launch, fish cleaning station, and a clubhouse. There’s plenty of green space to enjoy all of Lake Huron’s splendor, just be sure to keep your distance during big waves!

Stafford County Park

We figured we might as well mention our favorite Huron County Park next, which is less than 8 miles down the road from Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse.

Our first trip to Stafford was just after it reopened from the COVID pandemic, and we had the entire peninsula that is restricted to rustic camping to ourselves. Each day we woke up and were ushered to sleep by the lapping of waves on the shoreline, and it isn’t something we will soon forget.

The park is mostly geared towards RV camping, with a ton of sites that have full hookups. There are some mini cabins for rent and a handful of rustic sites. The park also has a small playground, an ample-sized beach, and a boardwalk out into Lake Huron.

Stafford County Park is in the small community of Port Hope, which has a population of roughly 250 people. Its population never broke 400 people, but the town has a lot to offer for such a small population. There’s a hardware store, a gas station, a self car wash, a few antique stores, The Store of Port Hope, and Port Hope Grill.

If you’re looking for a place to unwind and enjoy Lake Huron, this is the place for you. Plus, you’re within a short drive of a ton of other locations to explore once you’re charged up again, too.

Kernan Memorial Nature Sanctuary

If you talk to any avid Michigan hikers, they’ll tell you that The Thumb is pretty much a dead zone as far as hikes are concerned. They aren’t wrong when it comes to longer hikes or backpacking, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t options for shorter hikes, and Kernan Memorial Nature Sanctuary is proof of that.

The sanctuary sits on the Whiskey Harbor, which is rumored to have been used to smuggle booze in from Canada during prohibition, hence the name. Canadian Whiskey came by on passing cargo ships, bootleggers on small boats went out and grabbed it, and returned to the shores of the harbor to be distributed around The Thumb.

The Nature Sanctuary has hiking trails and unique opportunities to see an undeveloped natural harbor, which isn’t all that common in Michigan. The Kernan Family purchased the land in 1902, and William J. Kernan donated the 45-acre site in 1989.

Whether you visit in the warmer or snowier months, expect to feel at one with nature, as this sanctuary is beautifully isolated from road and boat traffic.

The Emergency Ark

Considering The Thumb’s proximity to Detroit, it isn’t shocking to find that Detroiters spend their leisure time exploring and unwinding on the shores of Lake Huron. Or, if you’ve really got some time on your hands, turn an old barn into a majestic work of art. Wait, you don’t do that? Well, luckily for all of us, Scott Hocking does.

Hocking has been crafting one-of-a-kind art installations since the 1990s, most of which can be found in the Motor City, but a select few pieces grace areas outside of Detroit.

The Emergency Ark, also called the Celestial Ship of the North, was completed in 2015. He used plank wood from an old barn collapsing in upon itself and created an ark reminiscent of the Ark that Noah builds in the Book of Genesis.

The Emergency Ark is quite literally in the middle of nowhere, but it isn’t terribly far from other destinations in The Thumb. It’s 10 miles south of Port Austin, 10 Miles east of Caseville, and almost 25 miles west of Port Hope. Whether you’re heading to your destination or in transit between two places, it’s definitely worth a stop.

It should be noted that the Ark is on private property, but you can easily view it from the road or with permission.

Caseville County Park

This one might seem like a gimme to most people who have been to The Thumb before, but we’re always shocked how many people haven’t been here. At Caseville County Park, the beach is beautiful, the sunsets are impeccable, and the campground is always full.

The beach has plenty of room to spread out, beach volleyball nets, and a small snack shop with indoor seating serving up classic beach food. Even during busy spells, there’s more than enough room to spread out and find your own piece of beach.

The pier just south of the beach has a small modern light to guide ships into the harbor and the Pigeon River. During sunset, it’s a beautiful place to take in the last light of the day make its paces over the water of the Saginaw Bay.

Although it’s one of the more prominent tourist destinations in The Thumb, Caseville only has a population of around 600. Even though it’s a small community, there are a handful of burger joints, ice cream parlors, pizzerias, fishing outposts, tourist shops, and a mini-golf course. While staying at or visiting Caseville County Park, you might as well stop for a bite to eat downtown, especially if you like burgers!

Lakeport State Park

The last location on our list almost feels like cheating, as it’s just over 10 miles from Port Huron and just over an hour from Detroit. But, as we defined in the beginning, Lakeport State Park is definitely in The Thumb, and is one of our favorite rock hunting beaches in the state.

Whether you only have a few hours, half a day, or a whole weekend, Lakeport has something to offer. There are trails running through dense forests, a mile of pristine Lake Huron shoreline, a 250-site campground with a store, and rocks galore.

If you’ve read our Rock Hunting Guide, you’ll know that Lakeport is our favorite rock beach in the Southeastern Lower Peninsula. We’ve found choral fossils, chert, some quartz, and granite. On most of our visits to the park, we’ve been the only ones hunting for stones, which is a great feeling.

We’ve taken day trips to Lakeport State Park, but our favorite way to visit is on our way up to or back down from The Thumb. It’s a great way to ramp up or wind down from a trip, and no matter what you have planned, Lakeport State Park is worth a stop!

We hope you enjoyed our list of places not to miss in The Thumb! If you want to see more locations like this, be sure to check out our Interactive Map. It’s the best way to plan your next trip across our beautiful state and a unique way to visualize where you’ll be heading next. As always, happy travels!

Eric Hergenreder

A photographer, writer, and researcher based out of Detroit, Michigan.