Saugatuck Dunes State Park is a public recreation area covering on the shore of
Lake Michigan between
Saugatuck and
Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
in
Allegan County,
Michigan
Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
.
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History
The site was once part of the estate of inventor Dorr E. Felt
Dorr Eugene Felt (March 18, 1862 – August 7, 1930) was an American inventor and industrialist who was known for having invented the Comptometer, an early computing device, and the Comptograph, the first printing adding machine.
The ''Felt & Ta ...
, whose summer home, the Felt Mansion, is an in-holding within the state park[ that is undergoing restoration.][ Built by the inventor of the ]comptometer
The Comptometer was the first commercially successful key-driven mechanical calculator, patented in the United States by Dorr Felt in 1887.
A key-driven calculator is extremely fast because each key adds or subtracts its value to the accumulato ...
in 1928, the Felt's summer home was sold to the St. Augustine Seminary in 1949 and used as housing for young students, and later on, for cloistered nuns. In the 1970s, the building was purchased by the state of Michigan and used as a state police post, with nearby buildings serving as a prison. The state completed purchasing the site for state park purposes in 1978.[
]
Activities and amenities
The largely undeveloped state park features of hiking trails, sand dunes covered with trees and grass, and of beachfront located two-thirds of a mile from the picnic parking area.[
]
References
External links
Saugatuck Dunes State Park
Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Saugatuck Dunes State Park Map
Michigan Department of Natural Resources
{{authority control
State parks of Michigan
Protected areas of Allegan County, Michigan
Protected areas established in 1977
1977 establishments in Michigan
Beaches of Michigan
Dunes of Michigan
Landforms of Allegan County, Michigan
IUCN Category III