Attractions in Port Hope, Michigan
To get the answer, the visitor would have to return to 1855, when William H. Stafford founded Port Hope He operated a flour mill and grain elevator, a saw mill, and a planing mill in the village 68 miles north of Port Huron.
At the time, lumber was Michigan’s growth industry. In Michigan’s Thumb, logs were cut and floated down the Cass River to Saginaw for milling, or hauled in wagons to Lake Huron port towns such as Port Hope. White pine, now Michigan’s state tree, was the most desirable. The logs were light and floated well, the wood durable and easily milled. Between 1869 and 1900, Michigan was the nation’s leading lumber producing state.
From October 8 through 10, 1871, wildfires burned in a triangular area bordered by Chicago on the south, Peshtigo, Wisconsin on the north, and Michigan’s Thumb to the east. The Thumb fire was believed to be many smaller fires set to clear land, some that had burned for weeks, whipped into one by the wind. The abundance of “slash” – branches cut from logs, and brush from cleared land – left in stacks to dry is also blamed. Another theory centers on a comet-asteroid collision, and chunks of rock, hot after falling through the earth’s atmosphere, scattering over the affected areas.
In September 1881, another fire scorched over a million acres in eastern Michigan, from Flint to Saginaw to the Thumb. In rural areas, there wasn’t anything to do except get out of the way and wait until it burned itself out. The fire claimed over two hundred lives, including several entire families.
Among the structures lost to the two fires were William Stafford’s mills. The chimney is all that survived. It stands in Stafford Park, on the lakefront. From Main Street – M-25 – take either Portland Street or State Street to Huron Street, and turn left to the park.
Five miles north of Port Hope is the Pointe Aux Barques lighthouse. It’s named for the point at the tip of Michigan’s Thumb, and both are named after the small boats used by French fur traders, seen in great numbers rounding the Thumb. Opened in 1848, rebuilt in 1857, and still a working lighthouse, it marks shallow water and serves as a navigation aid for upbound ships approaching Saginaw Bay. The keeper’s house is a museum open from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Lighthouse Park has a hiking trail, picnic area, playground, and a campground. Take M-25 about four and one half miles north of Port Hope and turn right on Lighthouse Road.
The Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse Society has an excellent, informative web site, at www.pointeauxbarqueslighthouse.org/
Over 1,300 ships have sunk in Lake Huron. Around a hundred are located in or near the Thumb Underwater Preserve near Port Hope. The John A. McGean, about nine miles out from the chimney, is a favorite among divers. Sunken Great Lakes ships, in fresh water that’s frozen for part of the year, are better preserved than those in salt water.
Two miles north of the lighthouse are the Huron City museums. Huron City burned to the ground in the fire of 1881. It was rebuilt, and the descendants of founder Langdon Hubbard have maintained the Victorian-era buildings. The museums are open from Memorial Day through Labor Day. On the web, take a virtual tour and read about 2006 events at www.huroncitymuseums.com
Don’t leave town without checking out the Port Hope Hotel, the orange brick building at M-25 and Portland Street. You’ll feel as if you’ve returned to the days when lumberjacks and sailors passed their off-duty hours in town, if their hangout of choice had a big screen TV and a CD jukebox. Try one of those inch-thick burgers, with a big basket of fries, but beware: the Port Hope Hotel is the only place where I’ve ordered my favorite dinner, eaten until I couldn’t eat any more, and still had food on the table. If Elvis had lived in Port Hope, he’d have been a regular.
