Orchard Beach State Park is a public recreation area covering on the shore of

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

in Manistee Township,

Manistee County Manistee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 25,032. The county seat is Manistee. The name "Manistee" is from an Ojibwe word first applied to the principal river of the county. Th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. Situated on a bluff three miles north of the city of Manistee, the

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

offers, camping, hiking trails, and scenic views over Lake Michigan. The beach has been closed due to high lake levels.

History

The park was developed by the Manistee, Filer City and Eastlake Railway Company and opened in 1892. After the company stopped trolley service to the park, the site was purchased by the Manistee Board of Commerce and deeded to the state to become part of the Michigan state park system in 1921. The

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

was active in the park in the 1930s. Corps efforts included construction of several limestone structures including a pavilion, toilet, line house, and pump house. In 2009, the park was listed on the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, being cited as "one of the most intact examples of a Michigan state park developed in the 1930s and 1940s under National Park Service guidelines.... retain ngthe majority of its CCC-era buildings and physical layout." In 2019, the high levels of Lake Michigan were eroding the sandy bluff on which the CCC-built pavilion stands.

In the news

In 2019, it was reported that erosion caused by record high water levels on Lake Michigan threatened the park's historic pavilion with destruction. The pavilion stands from the edge of the bluff. High water had covered the sandy beach at the base of the bluff, below the pavilion, since 2017, and the stairway built to access the beach from the pavilion led straight into the high waters of Lake Michigan. The pavilion was moved away from the shore in December 2020.

Activities and amenities

The park offers swimming, fishing, three miles of hiking trails, picnicking facilities, and a 166-site campground.

References

External links

Orchard Beach State Park
Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Orchard Beach State Park Map
Michigan Department of Natural Resources {{authority control State parks of Michigan Beaches of Michigan Protected areas of Manistee County, Michigan Protected areas established in 1921 Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Landforms of Manistee County, Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Manistee County, Michigan 1921 establishments in Michigan IUCN Category III