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Grayling Visitors BureauLodging and Local Attractions |
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Crawford County with its famous rivers, the AuSable and Manistee, flowing only a few miles apart were found by 18th and 19th century French trappers and Indians to be an ideal location to ship furs and trade goods.
At one time Grayling was actually called AuSable as well as Forest and Crawford Station. Another name made popular in the lumbering era was Milltown.
Michael Sloat Hartwick was the first settler of Grayling. He built a log hotel on the west side of the tracks. The railroad platted out 40 acres where Grayling now stands and named it Crawford. Fish swimming in the river were identified by an expert in Washington D.C. as Grayling and residents liked that name better than Crawford so they renamed the town after the fish. It was the lumber era that placed Grayling on the map as the river access for floating logs made it the center of logging activity.
The railroads also served to make Grayling a hub of activity. By the 1920's lumbering faded but recreation soon served to take up much of the slack.
The completion of I-75 served to open a wide new potential for industry. The retail sector blossomed as a regional shopping center and tourist and vacation traffic boomed.
Located in the restored railroad depot in downtown Grayling the museum offers a trip to the 19th and 20th centuries. It is a nostalgic jaunt through the lumbering era when Grayling was a leading participant. The depot was scheduled to be demolished but a community effort saved it.
The grounds also include a railroad caboose, a military building dedicated to local ex-military personnel and to Camp Grayling, a trapper's cabin, and an old fashioned firefighting station.
Wellington Farm Park is a 60-acre, non-profit living history museum, dedicated to preserving and interpreting farm life the way it was during the Great Depression. Many farming activities are conducted daily, making use of vintage equipment, tools, and practices.
The park has many unique buildings including a sawmill, blacksmith shop, gristmill, summer kitchen, farm market, and pavilion. In addition there is a nature trail just waiting to be explored. A farm market at Wellington is open seven days a week offering fresh vegetables, fruits, maple syrup, homemade soups, bird seed, animal feeds and gourds.
Several events are hosted throughout the summer and fall, including the "Walk Through History" and "Flat Belt" festivals, a reenactment from the French and Indian War, "Pumpkinfest" and Halloween Hayrides, and numerous weekend activities.
Camp Grayling is the largest National Guard training facility in the U.S., due to its many ranges and ample maneuver areas. It was founded in 1913 on an initial grant of land from Grayling lumber baron Rasmus Hanson to the State of Michigan for military training, and now spans 147,000 acres in Crawford, Kalkaska and Otsego counties. Much of that acreage is accessible to the public for hunting, fishing, snowmobiling and other recreational uses when military training is not taking place.
Each year, Camp Grayling typically schedules training for over 20,000 military personnel from National Guard units in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio, as well as regular Army and Reserve units. The installation provides over 200 full-time jobs to local residents, making Camp Grayling one of the largest employers in Crawford County. Camp activities generate over $20 million annually in local economic impact. The federal dollars that pay employee salaries are often used to pay local taxes and to support schools, hospitals, churches and local businesses, a partnership that has proven itself over generations.
Camp Grayling has over 600 soldiers in traditional Army National Guard units assigned at the Camp. Maintaining this level of membership requires individual dedication and commitment in sparsely-populated northern lower Michigan. Michigan Guard units, also in their domestic mission, often volunteer their skills, labor and equipment in community relations projects for local units of government or authorized community agencies.
A central attraction of Camp Grayling is beautiful Lake Margrethe, named after the wife of Rasmus Hanson. A favorite fishing and recreation lake for soldiers in their off-duty hours, the lake sees much enjoyment by area residents and by campers in the state forest campground located at the lake's northwest corner. Overall, Camp Grayling is a gem secluded within the center of the Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Its mission for the last 90 years, has been to train soldiers for combat, but the camp and its natural environment have brought enjoyment to several generations of visitors, both military and civilian.
Camp Grayling Community Relations Office (989)344-6104
Beal Plantation was planted in 1888 under the leadership of Michigan State University. The purpose of the planting was to determine and demonstrate how well various trees and shrubs could be established and grown on dry, sandy soil.
It was a recognition of how to recover from exploitive lumbering and manage forest resources intelligently.