Living and Working on the Shores of Lake Michigan - Ludington, MI (October 1 -7, 2026)

 

Ludington breakwater light

Ludington, Michigan knocked our socks off!  The combination of the Historic White Pines Village, the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum, and Ludington State Park taught us about this small coastal city (and perhaps other like it) from 1840 to the present.

The beach at Ludington State Park

Ludington is located in the same sand dune system as Sleeping Bear Dunes, further South along the coast of Lake Michigan. The area is breathtakingly beautiful.  There are many small lakes inland of Lake Michigan with small streams connecting them to the big lake.  Pere Marquette Lake is a largish one of these lakes, fed by a system of rivers that reach deep into the interior of Michigan. 

Loggers at Historic White Pines Village

In the 1840's, pioneers logged the seemingly endless stands of white pine during the winter, rolled the logs into one of the branches of the Pere Marquette River at the spring thaw, and floated them to one of the many sawmills lining Pere Marquette Lake in what is now Ludington.

Channel to Pere Marquette Lake

The sawed boards were loaded onto dinghies and rowed out through the narrow creek to large sailing ships in Lake Michigan to take them to markets.  An entrepreneur and sawmill owner dredged and widened the stream that connected Pere Marquette Lake with Lake Michigan.  This made Pere Marquette Lake into a large, protected port.  Not only was it easier to move lumber, industry expanded to ship building and shipping other kinds of goods.

Farmhouse in Historic White Pines Village

Meanwhile, the area around Ludington, Mason County, was logged over and farmers moved in.  A system of governance was established as well as a post office.  Eventually, shops were set up selling goods to the farmers.  Log cabins along near-by inland lakes were repurposed to be rugged vacation destinations, complete with chamber pots.

Locomotive at Historic White Pines Village

With the arrival of the railroad, lumber was shipped out on train cars instead of ships.  Rail congestion around Chicago slowed transit and made it more costly.  With great ingenuity, rail companies built car ferries that transported train cars full of lumber and other goods across Lake Michigan to Wisconsin.  The car ferries loaded train cars on train tracks on lower decks, and carried passengers up above.  Years later, these vessels were adapted to also carry automobiles.

Lovely Ludington town beach

Ludington was the center of the car ferry industry and one historic ferry, the Badger, still runs today.  Eventually the trees ran out, and logging no longer was the primary industry.  Farming continued and grew, and tourism developed.

Buttersville Beach - South of town

The natural beauty of the area, the shallow warm-water inland lakes, the dramatic sandy Lake Michigan coastline, and the mild summer climate attracted more and more summer tourists.  The vast, sandy beaches here are more reminiscent of an ocean coastline, while the other Great Lakes often have pebble or rocky shorelines.  Also, salmon were introduced in the 1960's into Lake Michigan creating an active sport fishing industry.  

Ludington State Park - Hamlin Lake

Ludington State Park has 3 camping areas with over 300 campsites with in it, while the town has 5 additional campgrounds which are also full during the summer.  Not to mention the numerous small hotels and B&B's.  This place is hopping in the summer!

What Did We Do?

One room school house

Historic White Pines Village is a fascinating and immersive collection of buildings depicting life in Mason County from 1840 to 1940.  One building was restored and is original to the site.  Many other buildings were moved from other locations in the county and then restored.  A few buildings were constructed to represent original buildings that had been in the area.  The buildings are furnished or house collections of artifacts.

Sawmill

Volunteers in period costume are throughout the village reenacting various industries or tasks.  A folk musician sits on a porch playing on his tin whistle.  A farmers wife cooks dinner on a wood stove.  A sawmill saws sections of white pine into boards.  A logger encampment has loggers explaining the tools they used.  A watch smith keeps a clock shop in town.

Car ferry piloting simulation

The Port of Ludington Maritime Museum is extremely well done, densely informative and yet very easy to enjoy.  Not only does it describe the evolution of the car ferry, but you can pilot a ferry into Ludington harbor in a simulation pilot house.  So fun!

The actual channel from the simulation

There is also an outstanding exhibit about the tragic Armistice Day Storm of 1940, the deadliest storm in the Great Lakes. An unseasonably warm November day changed rapidly into an intense blizzard and gale force winds killing 145 people including the crews of 3 freighters that sank, duck hunters caught by surprise in light weather clothing, and regular people.  Crops were ruined, livestock froze to death while still standing, covered almost instantly in ice and snow.  The exhibit follows the ships and groups of people along stages of before, during and after the storm.  You can even see video footage of the 3 shipwrecks that are nearby.

Museum housed in old Coast Guard building

The maritime museum is located inside a 1934 Coast Guard building at the mouth of Pere Marquette lake and the harbor.  Beautiful Ludington town beach is also nearby as well as the breakwater and light house.

Along Lost Lake Trail

Ludington State Park is so, so gorgeous.  We hiked part of the Lost Lake Trail that follows along Lake Hamlin (yet another lovely inland lake), and a tiny "lost lake".  The hike is reminiscent of hikes in any "North Woods" environment - white-barked birch trees, maple trees turning fall colors, fragrant pines and firs, pine needles lining sections of the trail, and lovely lake vistas.

The stone blocks in the foreground line the stream emptying Lake Hamlin into the Great Lake

Then we drove to the part of the shore of Lake Michigan where Schooner was allowed to run off leash, swim and retrieve her ball, and dig in the sand.  The beach is very, very wide here with soft sand that squeaks under foot when you walk on it.

Silver Lake and those amazing dunes

Silver Lake State Park is about 40 miles South of Ludington.  We stayed longer than we had planned in Ludington to await a repair part for the motor home.  Dunes on one side of Silver Lake were deforested and vegetation never grew back.  The state park has an area for Off Road Vehicles to drive across the dunes, the largest sand ORV area east of the Mississippi River.  There is also a pedestrian hiking area in the dunes, and an area for a commercial dune tour concession.  

The state park campground and day use swimming area is along another section of Silver Lake, across from the stunning dunes.  

Little Sable Point Lighthouse

Then, a few miles away, the state park protects the Little Sable Point Lighthouse on another gorgeous Lake Michigan beach.  If you remember your French - sable is French for sand.  

Where Did We Stay?

Cartier Park Campground

Cartier Park Campground is run by the town of Ludington and takes up a corner of the town park that also houses several fishing docks on Lincoln Lake (another pretty inland lake), bike and walking paths, a big dog park, and the town cemetery.  We generally like to stay in municipal parks like this one.  They are clean, have green space and trees, and are very reasonably priced.  Not only was Cartier Park a nice place to stay, they were very accommodating as we kept extending our stay awaiting our repair part.

Lighthouses, Beaches and Barns - Sleeping Bear Dunes Area (September 19 - 29, 2026)

 

This is a region of surprises.  "North woods" forests leading onto sand beaches beside an enormous inland sea.  Fall colors in the campground that are not found at the lakeshore just a few miles away. Lighthouses with the towers embedded into the keepers homes.  Sunny days consumed by fog in a matter of minutes.  

We have explored here for 10 delightful days. Here are some of the things we saw.

Mission Point Lighthouse

Mission Point Lighthouse.  The largest bay in the area is Grand Traverse Bay (7-10 miles wide and 32 miles long).  Traverse City is at the bottom of the bay.  The bay is split into two arms at the base by the 18 mile long Old Mission Peninsula.  There is a lighthouse at the end of the peninsula.

Mission Point

The scenic (and we mean SCENIC) drive up the peninsula passes 11 vineyards in 18 miles.  Land not cultivated by grapes is planted in cherry orchards.  We read that Lake Michigan waters absorb heat from sunlight during the summer and radiate warmth during the fall, extending the growing season.  Also, these crops like the sandy, well-drained, glacial soil.

Early settlers cabin

The lighthouse was not open when we visited, but we were able to explore the grounds, where we also saw an early settler's log cabin.

Cold and beautiful misty sunrise

We also went to Traverse City to buy warm clothes.  Our packing choices in 90 degree Virginia ten days before did not prepare us for 45 degree morning dog walks.  Thank you Burlington Coat Factory for coats, hats and gloves.

Port Oneida

Port Oneida is a collection of famhouses, barns, and other structures of 18 homesteads in a Rural Historic District completely within the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  You can get a self-guided tour pamphlet from the Lakeshore Visitors Center.  The tour takes you along paved and dirt roads to see the remnants of a modest agricultural community.

Port Oneida School

The area had seen prosperity when logging was the primary industry.  The small town of Port Oneida was built around the dock where wood was sold to steam ships.

Lonely barns sitting in fields preserve this quiet bit of history

After the land was logged off, the area was farmed, and the town of Port Oneida quietly vanished.  The tightly knit, interdendent farmers eeked a living off the land.

And then we saw some Sandhill Cranes in a field...

The structures date from the late 1800's to the early 1900s.  The farmhouses still have people living in them, the barns are empty.  The buildings are quite picturesque set in this beautiful landscape.  

Grand Traverse Lighthouse

The Grand Traverse Lighthouse is at the top of the Leelanau Peninsula which separates Grand Traverse Bay from Lake Michigan.  The Leelanau is also loaded with vineyards and cherry orchards, and is home to picturesque small towns and the Grand Traverse Band of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indian Reservation.

Grand Traverse Lighthouse guards a rocky section of shoreline

The Grand Traverse Lighthouse is located in Leelanau State Park but is operated by the local historical society.  The building is quite beautiful.  The exhibits inside are a mixture of lighthouse keeping history and local history.  The view from the top is spectacular.  This lighthouse marks the start of the treacherous nautical passage between the Manitou Islands and the shoreline that we mentioned in an earlier post.

The Platte River and scenic dunes beyond

The Platte River is a narrow, pretty, drifting river that cuts through the dunes.  It wanders nearly 30 miles, passing through 10 lakes before emptying into Lake Michigan.  The lower Platte is popular for canoes, kayaks, and paddleboards.  On the day we visited, the mouth of the river was loaded with fishermen in boats and standing in waders.

The Manitou Islands in the distance

We had read that the shallow, warm waters of the Platte River make it a summer family swimming destination.  It is also gorgeous.  We had great views of the dunes along the coastline to the North, and the ends of both North and South Manitou Islands.

Point Betsie Lighthouse

The Point Betsie Lighthouse.  South of the Lakeshore stands the glorious Point Betsie Lighthouse.  There was also a US Life Saving Service Station nearby back in the day.  The station building has been moved back from the shoreline and is now a private residence.

Life Saving Service Station Building

This is the third lighthouse we've seen here where the lighthouse is integrated into the structure of the keepers house.  You walk through part of the house to reach the lighthouse "tower" stairs.  We are used to seeing lighthouses as separate towers from the keepers quarters.

Shoreline at Point Betsie

The Point Betsie Lighthouse has been meticulously renovated with very interesting exhibits about the lighthouse, the life saving station and the conservation work being undertaken today on the adjoining Nature Conservancy land.  The lighthouse is still protecting the coastline with an automated, electric beacon.

Shoreline erosion protection measures at Point Betsie

Because the lighthous is on a sandy spit of land, there are a variety of shoreline erosion protection measures in place along its base, to keep it from being washed away.

Esch Beach

Esch Beach is one of a handful of dog beaches in the area.  The rest of the beaches are closed to dogs to protect the vulnerable nesting areas of endangered Piping Plovers. 

Clear, clear water

It is a beautiful, scenic beach and the perfect place for Schooner to swim.  The water was so clear you could see her legs churning underwater.  I only waded in once, the water was very cold.

As the fog creeps in

While we were playing with Schooner on the beach, fog crept in and stole a remarkably sunny day.

Approaching Esch Beach with green leaves on the trees...

...while fall has already arrived at the campground a few miles away.

Atop 400-Foot Dunes - Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (September 20-21, 2026)

Atop a very high dune!

It is a windy day.  You are standing 400+ feet (that's right, think of it as a 35 story tall building) above Lake Michigan on a sand dune looking straight down at the lake.  At this height things on the lake should look like ants, but you can see what must be huge white capped waves roll by.  Welcome to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

400+ feet down

Sleeping Bear Dunes is located on the Northwest Corner of the Michigan lower peninsula.  If you are visualizing the famous Michigan mitten, it is near the tip of the little finger.

Glaciers bulldozed this area, piling up rock, gravel and sand.  When the ice sheets retreated around 14,000 years ago, the melt water filled in the huge holes to form the Great Lakes.  Westerly winds across Lake Michigan moved sand onto the piles of rock debris along the shoreline to form what they call perched dunes - sand dunes built on top of piles of rock.  The dunes are 400-500 feet high.  This park is part of the longest fresh water sand dune system in the world.

The dark area on top is the Sleeping Bear

The area got its name from a large vegetation covered dune that sits above the other dunes.  It was a natural navigation aid identifying the area.  It looks like a sleeping animal and is named for a sad but sweet Anishinaabek story.

Mother bear watching over her cubs

The Story of Manitou Islands and the Sleeping Bear Dune

Long ago, across the lake in what is now known as Wisconsin, there was a terrible hunger.  A bear and her 2 cubs swam a great distance across the lake in search of food.  The cubs became tired and drowned within sight of land.  The broken-hearted mother bear waded ashore, and climbed the dune to lie down, looking at the water where her babies died.  Both of the cubs surfaced as two little islands (North and South Manitou Islands) and the mother bear continues to watch over her children from atop the dune to this day.

Glen Lake

What Did We Do?

The Pierce Stocking Drive is a beautiful, scenic, 7-1/2 mile drive that provides a great overview of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  It takes you through forest and dune ecosystems and includes dramatic visitas of Lake Michigan and Glen Lake. Glen Lake was once a bay in Lake Michigan, but is now separated from the larger lake by sand dunes.  The drive was created for visitors by a guy named Pierce Stocking before the formation of the park.  Most of the photographs in this post are from this amazing drive.

A covered bridge along Pierce Stocking Drive.

Historic Glen Haven is a vestigal historic community that is maintained as part of the park.  It is located on Sleeping Bear Bay which formed a natural port and also provided refuge for ships during storms.  Early European settlers lumbered the abundant forests and sold the wood at the port to fuel steam ships.  They also shipped the timber to build cities elsewhere.  After the forests were gone, the settlers planted orchards on the cleared land, and a cannery was built in Glen Haven to preserve the fruit.  The area is still known today for fruit, particularly cherries.  The town has a beautiful beach.

The US Life Saving Service/Coast Guard Station

The view from the station porch

The US Life Saving Service Station is also in Glen Haven.  Shipping to and from Chicago along Lake Michigan was routed between the Manitou Islands and the shoreline.  While it was quicker, the shallow, shifting shoals made the passage risky.  In addition to light houses set up on the islands, life saving stations were set up in Glen Haven and on both islands.  The US Life Saving Service eventually became part of the US Coast Guard.  If this sounds familiar, we have visited other US Life Saving Service Stations on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and Cape Cod in Massachusetts.  

Barracks inside the station

This station is beautifully restored and has exhibits about the Life Saving Service and Great Lakes shipping.

This life saving boat was self-bailing with built-in flotation devices to help keep it afloat.

The boat house has several life saving boats and other life saving equipment.  It also has tracks that were used to move the boats on carriages across the sand to the shoreline.

Tracks to carry heavy boats to the beach.

The Dune Climb is a famous wall of sand 284 feet tall, where visitors are invited to climp up and run down the dune.  Visitors are discouraged from going up and down other dunes in the park both for the safety of the dunes and the visitors.  We didn't climb, but we watched as others did.

The Dune Climb

Where Did We Stay?

Indigo Bluffs Campground

Indigo Bluffs Campground and RV Resort is 3 miles from the park Visitors Center in Empire.  The large, charming Campgound has mostly tree-lined sites with gravel drives and cement patios.  The RV Resort (next door) has paved, well-manicured sites set up for Big Rigs.  We are in the Campground side and love it.  It must be bustling in the summer, though right now it is 1/2 full and quiet.

Beautiful view