History

This land on the Lake Michigan shore was once the prosperous Village of Pier Cove. The land was covered with white pine trees and crossed by the creek that played an important part in the development of the village.

A dam was constructed across the creek to create a pond for a saw mill. Soon the village boasted of having a saw mill, grist mill, slaughter house, hotel, school, post office, two saloons, several churches, and many houses.

The village was platted in 1862. But by 1885, the timber was gone and the village died almost as fast as it had grown. The only inhabitants left by 1889 were a few old soldiers who lived on pensions.

Mr. O.C. Simonds, a landscape gardener from Chicago, became aware of this beautiful area in 1876 soon after graduation from the University of Michigan. O.C. Simonds acquired property between 1891 and 1895 in Pier Cove, some of which we now know as the Ravine.

J.B. Johnson and William S. Curtis purchased suitable Pier Cove lots at the urging of their friend Simonds. That friendship has continued to this day through the descendants of these families who maintain the Pier Cove Ravine as a Michigan Wildlife Sanctuary.