Exploring all 5 Great Lakes – Day 8 – Traverse City, MI to Port Huron, MI – July 2025

Hey Guys!

This post continues our time exploring all 5 Great Lakes!

We are currently in Traverse City but will be making our way to Port Huron, MI which is a 4 hr drive.

Before checking out of our hotel, we took a few minutes to enjoy the views from our balcony.

A shot of the hotel

We then packed up and headed to a local restaurant called, The Cottage for some much needed breakfast.

After being seated, we took a few minutes to look over the menu.

I settled on an omelet with hash browns and a side of pancakes while the hubby went with the cherry covered pancakes and a side of sausage.

The food was delicious and those pancakes were out of this world!! The cherries were so good!

Read reviews here

After breakfast, we headed out to find the world’s largest cherry pie pan!

It was about a 10 min drive from the restaurant.

This cherry pie pan was used in 1987 to make the world’s largest cherry pie!

The pie tin for the record-setting pie was 18 feet wide and 26 inches deep. It was built by the Jacklin Steel Supply Company of Traverse City.

The pie weighed a whopping 28,350 lbs!

The record was short lived ….on July 14, 1990, the city of Oliver, British Columbia, baked a 37,721 lb cherry pie and officially unseated Traverse City as the home of the “World’s Largest Cherry Pie”….however, the Canadian bakers didn’t save their pan, leaving Traverse City still the leader in the plus sized pie tins.

You can really tell just how big it is when you. stand next to it!

Read reviews here

After checking out the pie pan, we began our 4 hr drive to Port Huron.

We passed through Grayling where you will find Camp Grayling , a multi purpose training center for the National Guard and other military units and Grayling Army Airfield that includes two 5,000 ft runways that support training exercises.

Arriving to Port Huron

Our first stop in Port Huron was the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse.

Fort Gratiot was built in 1814 during the War of 1812 to guard the juncture of the St. Clair River and Lake Huron. Named after the engineer who supervised construction, Charles Gratiot, Fort Gratiot would be occupied on and off by the United States Army until 1879.

Fort Gratiot Lighthouse was built in 1829 to replace a tower destroyed by a storm. It is the oldest operating lighthouse in the Great Lakes and is the oldest surviving lighthouse in Michigan.

The 86 ft light stands above the lake level in a conical stone tower, overlaid with red brick that has been painted white.

The keeper’s cottage and fog whistle house are red.

Tower climbs and tours are available during business hours for approximately $10 pp.

Near the lighthouse is the USLSS, the United States Life Saving Service that was established in 1871.

This organization was responsible for saving the lives of shipwrecked mariners and passengers.

In 1939, the Coast Guard merged with the Lighthouse Service and took over the operation of the lighthouse station.

Scattered around the property were plaques filled with interesting facts about the lighthouse’s history and the vital role the Coast Guard played along the coast.

One of the nearby buildings had been turned into a small gift shop…this is also where you would purchase tickets if you waned to tour the lighthouse.

Next to the lighthouse was a public beach called Lighthouse Beach..

Read reviews for the lighthouse here & click here for reviews of the beach

We then headed to the Thomas Edison Park.

Here you will find the one mile Thomas Edison Parkway Boardwalk.

The “boardwalk”, which is a paved walkway, runs along the St Clair River.

From the boardwalk you will have views of the Blue Water Bridge ….on the other side of the bridge is Canada.

Port Huron sits on Lake Huron at the southern end where it connects to the St. Clair River. The city is located on the U.S. side of the border, directly across the river from Sarnia, Ontario, Canada

We came here to see the Huron Lightship Museum.

Lightships are floating lighthouses that are anchored in areas where it was too deep, expensive, or impractical to construct a lighthouse. Lightships displayed a light at the top of a mast and, in areas of fog, also sounded a fog signal and radio beacon.

The Huron Lightship was the last operating lightship on the Great Lakes, and served for over 50 years when she was retired in 1970. She was permanently moored in sand, along the banks of the St. Clair River.

The museum has an extensive collection of artifacts, including many model ships. It was dedicated in 1990 as a National Historic Landmark.

The cost to tour the ship was $12 pp.

The tour was a guided tour but we got stuck with a young boy who didn’t seem to know very much about the ship.

He took us all through the ship and showed us the living quarters, kitchen, bathrooms, steam room and much more.

It was very interesting.

The family of Robert J Gullickson had donated some of his belongings to be showcased on the ship.

Mr. Gullickson was lost at sea in 1958 when the boat he and another sailor were riding in was capsized by a wave as the two were delivering mail to the Huron Lightship.

The lightship was stationed in Lake Huron about two miles offshore.

The two sailors held hands and talked in the water before a wave separated them. Mr. Gullickson tried to swim to shore but never made it. His body was never recovered.

He was the only crewman lost during the 35 years the Huron was in operation.

A few more shots of the ship.

Read reviews here

After the tour, we continued our walk along the boardwalk.

We spotted this heart shaped art installation and couldn’t pass on having our pictures taken in front of it! 😉

We then noticed a huge freight liner going up under the Blue Water Bridge so we walked over to take a few pictures.

The bridge is a twin-span international bridge across the St. Clair River that links Port Huron, and Point Edward, Ontario, Canada.

The first bridge was fully opened to traffic on October 10, 1938 and the second three-lane bridge, just south of the first bridge, opened on July 22, 1997.

The Blue Water Bridges are jointly owned and maintained by Canada and the United States.

There are many statues scattered along the boardwalk with one of those being of Thomas Edison.

Thomas Edison and his family had moved to Port Huron in 1854 when he was about 7 years old. He spent much of his formative years here. His family settled in Port Huron after his father’s lumber business in Ohio had failed.

Our next stop was just a few minutes walk from the statue called the Thomas Edison Depot Museum.

The Grand Trunk depot is where 12 year old Thomas Edison departed daily on the Port Huron-Detroit run.

The museum occupies the historic railway depot originally built in 1858 by the Grand Trunk Railway.

This building is the actual depot where young Thomas worked from 1859 to 1863.

In 1859, the railroad’s first year of operation, Thomas persuaded the company to let him sell newspapers and confections on the daily trips.

He became so successful that he soon placed two newsboys on other Grand Trunk runs to Detroit. He made enough money to support himself.

After paying our $12 admission fee, we started our self guided tour.

Thomas Edison had attended school briefly in Port Huron but was largely homeschooled by his mother after being labeled “difficult” by his teachers.

At around 12 yrs old, he started working as a newsboy and candy vendor on the Grand Trunk Railroad. He even created his own small publication, The Grand Trunk Herald, which he printed in the baggage car.

He set up a small chemical lab and printing press in the baggage car of the train and also conducted experiments in the basement of his home. These early scientific experiments laid the foundation for this future work as an inventor.

The museum was so interesting….it told about Edison’s early life story, his family move from Ohio to Port Huron, his homeschooling, his youthful curiosity, his early jobs, and how those years laid the groundwork for his future inventions.

Shots of the inside of the museum

There was a restored baggage car that recreated Edison’s mobile chemistry lab and printing shop.

There were hands on and interactive displays throughout the museum.

Thomas Edison held 1,093 patents in his name…he also held several hundred international patents, bringing his total number of patents worldwide to well over 1500!

Some of the things he invented were incandescent light bulb (not the first but the most practical and commercially viable), electric power distribution system, electric meter, phonograph, kinetoscope (early motion picture viewer), alkaline storage batteries, and so much more!

The museum was very educational and engaging.

Read reviews here

After visiting the museum, we decided to go check into our hotel.

We would be staying at the DoubleTree and unbeknownst to us, we could have walked there from the museum!

After getting checked in, we headed to our room.

The room was very nice and spacious.

We had a small patio with views of the bridge!

Read reviews here

After getting settled into our room, we decided to head back out to find something for dinner.

My hubby had found a place in the nearby town of Marine City, MI called Marine City Fish Company.…so, we decided to try it out.

Tip: The restaurant was a 30 min drive from our hotel in Port Huron.

Driving through downtown Port Huron

The downtown district was full of old, colorful buildings!

We then drove through Old Town Port Huron and spotted lots of beautiful, historic homes!

The whole drive was basically a parade of gorgeous old houses….total eye candy for architecture lovers!

Arriving to Marine City

Where we spotted even more incredible homes!

After getting parked, we made our way to the restaurant.

The restaurant has a prime river front setting on the St. Clair River …it offers an upstairs with indoor/outdoor seating and a patio that offers scenic views.

Its building has historical roots—-from log construction tied to the 1800’s lumber trade…which definitely adds to the charm of the restaurant.

The restaurant was really cool on the inside!

We asked to be seated on the second floor so we could have views of the river.

The views were awesome!

Their menu focuses on fresh local fish and seafood plus smoked specialties, sandwiches, pastas and steaks.

We started out with an appetizer of smoked fish & cheeses…..it was really good!

Then came our salads and bread…..that bread was so delicious!

For our main entrees, we both ordered the cedar planked white fish….the fish comes right out of Lake Superior!

The food, service and views were all excellent!

Read reviews here

As we were eating dinner, we spotted a huge freight liner passing by.

After dinner, we decided to walk through the town and check out the nearby lighthouse that we had spotted from the balcony of the restaurant.

The Peche Island Lighthouse was a historic lighthouse “off Peche Island in the entrance to the Detroit River from Lake St. Clair. Located in American waters just north of the border to Canada. It was moved to Marine City, Michigan upon its deactivation.

Erected on a crib in open water, by 1908 it had developed a severe list to one side, and in 1983, the 60ft tall lighhouse was replaced with a skeletal tower. The old tower was installed in lighthouse Park in Marine City where it still stands.

Marine City is a charming small town that offers unique blend of French heritage, maritime history and small-town charm.

It was founded by French settlers in the late 18th century and was originally known as Yankee Point due to its early American settlers.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Marine City became a hub for shipbuilding, with many wooden ships constructed here for the Great Lakes.

The town’s maritime heritage is evident in the grand architecture of homes once owned by shipbuilders and captains .

Click here for things to do in Marine City

One of the attractions is the Riverwalk & Parks.….Marine City boasts eight parks along Water Street that offer scenic views of the river.

After spotting this massive chair, leaving without a picture was simply not an option! 😉

Continuing our walk through town

We loved all of the old, historic buildings!

After checking out the town, we decided it was time to head back to Port Huron.

More historic homes that we passed along the way

We passed the historic Wilbur Davidson home. The house was built in 1890 for Wilbur Davidson who was born in 1852. He had established a dry goods store in Port Huron around 1882. In 1883, his store installed the first electric light plant. He lived in this house until his death in 1913. His daughter lived here until 1951.