Named for Fayette Brown, the Jackson Iron Company agent who chose the site, Fayette was once one of the Upper Peninsula’s most productive iron-smelting operations.  Located on the Garden Peninsula at Snail Shell Harbor, Fayette grew up around two blast furnaces, a large dock and several charcoal kilns after the Civil War. Nearly five hundred residents - many immigrating from Canada, the British Isles and Northern Europe - once lived in the vicinity.  During the twenty-four years of operation, Fayette’s blast furnace produced a total of 229,288 tons of iron, using local hardwood forests for fuel and quarrying limestone form nearby bluffs to purify the iron ore. When the charcoal iron market began to decline, the Jackson Iron Company closed its Fayette smelting operation in 1891. 

The Fayette Historic Townsite is located between Escanaba and Manistique, seventeen miles south of US-2 in Fayette Historic State Park.  A Michigan State Park motor vehicle permit is required for entrance to the park. Please allow approximately three hours for touring the townsite.  Attractions include a visitor center, exhibits, a twenty-six-station walking tour and a scale model of the original townsite.  The is partically handicapped accessible. Hours are 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., daily, mid-May through mid-June; 9:00 A.M. to dusk, mid-June through Labor Day; 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Labor Day through mid-October. Telephone (906) 644-2603 or TDD (800) 827-7007.  Interpreted in cooperation with the Michigan Department of Natural Resouces.

Fayette, Michigan Historic Townsite

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Fayette Historic Townsite, 13700 13.25 Lane, Located in Fayette Historic State Park, Garden, MI 49835, Phone: (906) 644-2603. 

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