Fayette Historic State Park houses a historic town site that was once a bustling industrial community that manufactured charcoal pig iron between 1867 and 1891. Fayette offers unmatched serenity of a Lake Michigan harbor, white cliffs and verdant forests. This well-preserved museum village recalls another time when it was a noisy, dirty company town with an immigrant population that shared daily hardships, joys and sorrows. 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. The cultural resources are interpreted in a joint agreement with the Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries.

Purpose

Park purpose statements are based on park legislation, legislative history, special designations and DNR policies. These statements reaffirm the reasons for which Fayette Historic State Park was identified as part of the State Park system.

• To provide educational and interpretive opportunities for the public that reflect the mission of the DNR, of HAL (History, Arts and Libraries) and the unique qualities of Fayette Historic State Park.
• To preserve and protect the park's historic/cultural resources for current and future generations.
• To preserve and protect the park's unique natural resources for current and future generations.
• To provide opportunities for recreational uses and experiences compatible with the park's resources base.

Significance

Park significance statements capture the essence of the park's importance to our state's natural and cultural heritage, its recreational offerings and the educational and interpretive opportunities afforded. The following statements describe the distinctiveness of Fayette Historic State Park. Understanding these distinctions help managers make decisions that preserve those special resources and values necessary to accomplish the park's purposes.

• Fayette's significance encompasses an impressive cultural timeline including not only the town's industrial era but also prehistoric occupation of the site dating back at least 2,000 years.  Archaeological study of this ancient past provides valuable information on Fayette's first inhabitants and prehistoric (Native American) cultures of the Upper Great Lakes Region, according to "Cultural Resource Management Plan" by SSOE, Inc. The plan goes on to state the following key points in its significance:
• "Fayette is the most intact, post Civil War-era, charcoal iron-smelting company town in the United States."
• "Fayette represents the rapid industrialization of the United States. Led by the growth of the iron and steel industries and the development of a national economy that took place as the industrial frontier moved west, Fayette became a leading producer of Michigan charcoal iron used in the American steel industry. The importance of the contribution made to this nation's industrial revolution in the late nineteenth century makes the Fayette Town site historically significant at both the state and national level"
• "What is unusual about Fayette, in addition to its beautiful setting, is the variety of historic resources which have been preserved here, the unusually high overall integrity of the site and its historic resources, both above and below ground … the product both of the site's isolation and its long period of protection as a state park … and the wealth of the written record that has survived that will, in the future, facilitate interpretation of all aspects of the site."
• The historic town site lies in the protection of a natural harbor (Snail Shell Harbor) occurring in the Niagaran Escarpment of Silurian aged limestone and dolomite cliffs. The ecological significance of these limestone cliffs is that they provide the habitat for old-growth cedar (in excess of 1,000 years old), the rare slender cliff-brake fern, and three rare land snails. The Natural Features Inventory Report states that "limestone cliffs in the Great Lakes Region have been identified as globally significant habitat for land snail fauna."
• Fayette Historic State Park provides recreational opportunities for camping, boating, swimming, picnicking, trail use, hunting and other outdoor activities.
• Fayette Historic State Park offers excellent opportunities for research, education and interpretation in the areas of:
  • Cultural aspects of Native American and European life.
  • History of the Fayette Town site and the surrounding area as part of the Industrial Revolution.
  • The unique ecological systems of the limestone cliffs.

Minutes from the September 16, 2004, Public Information Session.

Additional information about the  Fayette Historic State Park Draft Plan can be obtained from Paul Curtis, Management Plan Administrator, who can be reached at 517-373-4625 or by e-mail at curtisp@michigan.gov.