Union Pier is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Berrien County in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. It is situated between the

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 depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

shore and the

Galien River The Galien River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 19, 2011 stream in the Michiana, southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. The river begins at the outlet ...

about five miles north of the

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

state border. The ZIP code is 49129 and the

FIPS place code The Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) of the United States are a set of publicly announced standards that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed for use in computer systems of non-military United States ...

is 81400.

History

During the summer of 1914 a colony of Chicago bohemians, including the writers

Sherwood Anderson Sherwood Anderson (September 13, 1876 – March 8, 1941) was an American novelist and short story writer, known for subjective and self-revealing works. Self-educated, he rose to become a successful copywriter and business owner in Cleveland and ...

and

Ben Hecht Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplays and play ...

, vacationed at the "Camp's Cottages" (for the owner Eli Camp) on the Union Pier beach. The local residents were outraged by what they believed were the wild goings-on at "The Nudist Club," as they characterized it, particularly after two local men left their wives for women staying at Camp's. The locals made the situation sufficiently uncomfortable for the vacationers that they did not return the next year.Rideout, Walter Bates, and Charles E. Modlin (2006). ''Sherwood Anderson''. pp. 187-90 After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, many Lithuanian immigrants began settling in Union Pier. Although few Lithuanian-Americans remain today, several Lithuanian facilities remain, such as Milda's Corner Market and Gintaras Resort.

Education

Most children attend New Buffalo Elementary (K-5), Middle (6-8), and High School (9-12), which make up New Buffalo Area Schools. Some attend River Valley School District, which is made up of Chikaming Elementary School (PK-2) in

Sawyer *A sawyer (occupation) is someone who saws wood. Places in the United States Communities * Sawyer, Kansas * Sawyer, Kentucky * Sawyer, Michigan * Sawyer, Minnesota * Sawyer, Nebraska * Sawyer, New York * Sawyer, North Dakota * Sawyer, Oklahoma ...

, and Three Oaks Elementary (3-5) and River Valley High School (6-12) in Three Oaks, Michigan.

References

External links

Union Pier Information from Harbor Country Chamber
Unincorporated communities in Berrien County, Michigan Lithuanian-American culture in Michigan Unincorporated communities in Michigan {{BerrienCountyMI-geo-stub