The haunting beauty of Fayette: How a booming iron town became Michigan's most captivating ghost town

Fayette Historic State Park on Michigan’s Garden Peninsula preserves the remains of a 19th-century iron-smelting community that once boomed after the Civil War. Established in 1867 by the Jackson Iron Company, Fayette was built around two blast furnaces and a remote harbor used to ship ore, limestone, and hardwood for charcoal. At its peak, nearly 500 people lived there, many immigrants from Canada, the British Isles, and northern Europe. Today, visitors can tour 10 preserved townsite buildings, including the superintendent’s 11-room White House and a reconstructed laborer’s cabin, and view more than 1,000 artifacts. The park was acquired by Michigan in 1959 and is supported by an on-site campground with 61 sites and marina access with 15 slips for vessels up to 60 feet.