Fayette Historic
Townsite
Fayette Historic Townsite is located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan between Escanaba and Manistique. Fayette is seventeen miles south of U.S. 2 in Fayette Historic State Park, accessible via Delta County Road 183 off US-2 west of Manistique. It once was a bustling industrial community which manufactured charcoal pig iron for economical shipping to the Great Lakes steel companies.
In the mid-1800s, iron ore was shipped from the Upper Peninsula mines to the foundries in the lower Great Lakes at an enormous cost. This high cost of shipping was caused by inefficient transportation combined with the nearly 40 percent waste the ore contained. The solution was to build a blast furnace close to the mine where the ore could be smelted into pig iron before it was shipped to the steel-making centers. The town had to be relatively close to the Escanaba ore docks, have a natural harbor, and be near the limestone and hardwood forests that were needed to smelt the iron ore. Named after Fayette Brown, the Jackson Iron Company agent who chose the site, Fayette was once one of the Upper Peninsula's most productive iron-smelting operations. Located on the Garden Peninsula at Snail Shell Harbor, Fayette grew up around two blast furnaces, a large dock and several charcoal kilns after the Civil War. Nearly five hundred residents, many immigrating from Canada, the British Isles and northern Europe, lived in and near the town that existed to make pig iron. During twenty-four years of operation, 1867 to l891, Fayette's blast furnaces produced a total of 229,288 tons of iron, using local hardwood forests for fuel and quarrying limestone from the bluffs to purify the iron ore. When the charcoal iron market began to decline, the Jackson Iron Company closed its Fayette smelting operation.
Today, visitors to Fayette State Park see nineteen structures including several public and commercial buildings, residences which housed the people of Fayette, and the stabilized ruins of the furnace complex. Attractions include a visitor center, museum exhibits, a twenty-six-station walking tour and a scale model of the original townsite. Scheduled tours are offered to visitors from mid-June through Labor Day. The visitor center is handicapped accessible. Allow two to three hours for tour of the townsite. Annual events include the Fayette Heritage Days the 2nd Saturday in August featuring period displays, food and music.
Camp in Fayette State Park while visiting this historic town. Lodging and Recreation at Garden and the Garden Peninsula
Threefold Vine Winery on the Garden Peninsula and the Green Family Farm, 5856 Nn Road, Garden, MI 49835 Phone: 906-644-7089. Just south of the town of Garden and near Fayette State Park on the Garden Peninsula. Our Tasting Room at the Winery will be open in the spring of 2007 and will be offering grape (from our vineyard) apple, honey, and various fruit wines. Visit our winery, see how the wine is produced, and sample our exciting new wines. The Green Family Farm offers pumpkins, squash, and apples for sale in the fall. Tour the Winery and the Orchards while you are enjoying your visit to Fayette State Park and Historic Village. Recreation in the Upper Peninsula Manistique Lakes Area Tourism Bureau Back to Michigan Towns and Cities Back to Upper Peninsula Traveler Back to Exploring the North Home Page Copyright 1998-06 by Vivian Wood, the webmaster for Exploring the North, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976, as Amended, this web site may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner. Unless authorized by the webmaster of Exploring the North, Inc., reproduction of any web page or pages on the Exploring the North website for placement on the internet is a copyright infringement. All right, title and interest in and to the material on our web pages, the web site, in whole or in part, and in and to this url and the urls contained within, is the property of the webmaster for Exploring the North, Inc. |
