McCarty’s Cove
Euzebe Reau started one of the first ice businesses in Marquette in the 1870s. The business was located in what is known today as McCarty’s Cove. Why isn’t it called Reau Cove, you might ask? Well, because Mike McCarty purchased the Lake Superior Ice Company, the same company Reau and his son ran through the turn of the century in 1949. At some point after that, the company transitioned into trucking, and the ice operation was abandoned. Mike died in 1977, and McCarty’s Cove Park opened two years later.
McCarty’s Cove is the perfect place for a picnic, a beach walk, or to take a load off and just enjoy Lake Superior in all of its majesties. On our first trip to the cove, we had just gotten a couple of pastrami subs from Jean Kay’s, so we plopped ourselves down on a park bench and stuffed our faces with a view. After we finished eating our sandwiches and coleslaw, we put our garbage in the car and went down to the water for a walk. The sun was just about to set, so the Marquette Harbor Lighthouse was getting pounded with a hazy light, making it almost reverberate a golden aura. We walked down the beach toward the lighthouse and eventually ended up on the rocky outcropping on the south side of the point, where other people were sitting out enjoying the sunset. You could see the break wall, Coast Guard Station, and parts of the Arch & Ridge Streets Historic District.
I mentioned the Marquette Harbor Lighthouse, which was built in 1866. It has been extensively modified and changed over the years, most notably with the addition of the second floor in 1909. In the 1960s, it was painted red, which is part of what makes it so iconic today. Today, the keepers’ quarters house the Marquette Maritime Museum.
On another trip to Marquette, I walked from downtown Marquette through the historic district to the rock outcropping and up the beach a while before returning downtown, which was quite a nice walk. If you start at McCarty’s Cove, you can walk along the water almost all the way to Presque Isle using the walking and riding path that begins just after Picnic Rocks. From McCarty’s Cove to the start of the break wall on Presque Isle is just over 3 miles, which can be quite the hefty walk if Superior’s winds are blowing in your face. Whether you’re having lunch, fancy a beach walk, or just want to sit on the lake’s rocky shore, McCarty’s Cove is a great place to be.
