History

Mr. Melcher 1896, source: O.C. Simonds' "The Cove" album No. 1, page 29

This land on Lake Michigan 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 woman sitting next to a mill house near a creek

Unknown 1897, source: O.C. Simonds' "The Cove" album No. 1, page 106 

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.

Children seated on a mill wheel

Mr. Melcher 1896, source: O.C. Simonds' "The Cove" album No. 1, page 39 

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.

An old house on the sand

Unknown 1897, source: O.C. Simonds' "The Cove" album No. 1, page 131   

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.

An old man in a suit

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.