Port Crescent State Park
Nestled on a cusp of land between M-25 and Lake Huron lies Port Crescent State Park. The land used to be home to a town called Pinnebog, which would later be renamed Port Crescent. The town’s population eventually reached 500 in the 1860s due to the large number of timber jobs in the area. By the late 1870s, the thumb’s timber was almost all forested, leading to the decline of the town. A sand mining operation began sometime around this time as well, but after the Thumb Fire of 1881, which burned over a million acres and killed 282 people in less than a day, the town was all but finished. The sand mining continued until the 1930s, but that too folded when the water levels on the Pinnebog River became so high that it cut a new channel, overflowing the operation’s sand pit. The dunes quickly overtook the former town, lumbering camp, and mining operation. In 1956, the state purchased 124 acres, and in 1959, the park we know today opened, albeit much more primitive. The park is the northernmost State Park in the thumb of Michigan and offers three miles of pristine dog-friendly beaches, fishing on both the big lake and the river, a Dark Sky Preserve, and almost 150 modern campsites that hug the old Pinnebog River channel. Whatever outdoor activity it is that you fancy, Port Crescent State Park is a great place to unwind for a day, weekend, or week or two.
