BREVORT

Region: St. Ignace & U.S. 2 to Naubinway

Brevort (BREE-vort") continues the kitshiy tourist shops along US-2. Once it was the home port for ten fishing tugs and called "The Warehouse" after a supply depot was built here by a steamship line for its St. Ignace to Manistique route. Brevort's motels date to the time when tourists from Lower Michigan took the ferries across the Straits. If they set out in the morning, they could get as far as Brevort by day's end.
The settlement dates to 1875, when the Mackinac Lumber Company built a warehouse for logging supplies. Swedes came to work in the lumber camps and stayed. Some took up fishing. Trinity Lutheran Church, up on a hill off the highway, raises a midsummer pole in the Swedish tradition on the third Sunday in June at 9 a.m. Visitors are welcome to come as they are.

Trinity Lutheran Church, visible from US-2, is a striking example of the simple lines used by Swedish immigrants over a century ago.

Logged-over timberlands and once-worthless sand dunes became part of the Hiawatha National Forest in the 1930s — a story told on interesting interpretive panels on the site of Civilian Conservation Corps Camp Round Lake on H-57/Brevoort Lake Road half a mile north of U.S. 2.

On the north side of U.S. 2, motorists can see dunes, some covered with low, shrubby vegetation, others with huge pines and oaks, trees suited to droughty conditions. Between U.S. 2 and Brevoort Lake, the low, wet spots between dunes are good places to find blueberries, typically in late July through mid-August. Parking on U.S. 2's north side isn't allowed. Parking is allowed on side roads.


Dunes like these are stabilized by a succession of plants that follow the principal pioneer, American beach grass. Its long, deep roots grow down to find moisture in the sand. Its grass blades can withstand being buried by sand. Once the dunes are stabilized, juniper, oak, and pine will follow. Eventually enough soil will be formed to support forests like that on the old dunes on the south shore of nearby Brevoort Lake.

Visitors with little time can take some beautiful short hikes through these dunes: near the Brevort Lake Campground and Picnic Area, part of the Hiawatha National Forest; at the Little Brevort Lake Campgrounds in the Lake Superior State Forest; and at Big Knob on state forest land n(see the community of Naubinway).

Just east of H57/Brevort Lake Road, the many twists of the Pointe aux Chenes River between Round Lake and Lake Michigan form an usually large and undisturbed marsh. Pull over on the wide shoulder on U.S. 2's north side, and you might observe some of the marsh's resident loons, osprey, eagles, and terns.

Return to St. Ignace & U.S. 2 to Naubinway

PLACES AROUND BREVORT TO

Eat Sleep Camp