Father Marquette National Memorial
Explore Fayette Historic Townsite, a former iron-making town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Explore Fort Wilkins and the Copper Harbor Lighthouses in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to learn about people and events that shaped this region.
Explore the state’s 19th-century logging era at Hartwick Pines Logging Museum.
The museum has exhibits on everything from the CCC's role in planting trees and building roads to its impact on the environment.
The Mann House and its contents illustrate typical family life in the 1880s.
The house is under extensive renovation and is closed to the public. Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia Dent Grant, lived in this Detroit house from 1849 to 1850.
The Michigan Iron Industry Museum is a great place to learn about the history of Michigan's iron industry.
Sanilac Petroglyphs Historic State Park protects and interprets Michigan’s largest known collection of early Native American teachings carved in stone.
The Tawas Point Lighthouse is a fascinating attraction for maritime buffs and an exciting destination for birdwatchers.
This secret network aided thousands of people on their journey to freedom.
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In 1903, a team of workers under the direction of newly-appointed State Forest Warden Filibert Roth pondered the stump-ridden, sand on the north shore of Higgins Lake. Once a thriving native forest, the nearly barren landscape had suffered from aggressive lumbering and a series of fires in the late 19th century. To address the problem, the Michigan legislature established the Michigan Forestry Commission to replant trees and create the state’s first tree nursery and forest reserve.
Within a year, Roth and his workers had planted 43 pounds of seed on the site, representing 12 different pine species. It was an experimental venture, and in his first official report, Roth noted, “Considerable damage was done [to the seed beds] by birds but far more by the ordinary stripped gopher which proved quite a pest and in spite of a shot gun completely destroyed all seeds of nut and sugar pine and much of white pine.”
Nonetheless, more than 600,000 seedlings were thriving in 1904 and, by 1906, Roth’s team had successfully cultivated 27 different species of trees. By 1926, the nursery was shipping 22 million seedlings across the state and nation.
In 1933, the Higgins Lake Civilian Conservation Corps Camp began working at the tree nursery. Born during the Great Depression by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Civilian Conservation Corps (or CCC) employed young men in many public works projects, including “the preservation of forest fires, floods, soil erosion, plant, pest and disease control.” In Michigan, thousands of recruits planted trees and fought forest fires across the northern Lower and Upper Peninsula.
By 1942, when the CCC program ended, Michigan workers had planted 484 million trees, more than twice the amount of any other state.
In the early 1960s, with initial reforestation largely completed, the Higgins Lake Nursery ceased operation.
Today, the land on which the original Higgins Lake Nursery and Civilian Conservation Corps Camp stood is heavily forested, and includes North Higgins Lake State Park and the Civilian Conservation Corps Museum.
Look Around
The museum tells the stories of Michigan's first tree nursery, as well as the Civilian Conservation Corps in Michigan.
In 1899, the Michigan Forestry Commission started the important tasks of reforestation and organized fire protection, as told by the historical marker on site.
The museum immerses visitors in the life of the CCC men, showing how they lived and worked at the camp.
Many personal mementos from former CCC members are displayed at the Museum at North Higgins Lake State Park.
Updated 03/16/2023