We had just spent a wonderful two days and nights anchored at South River Cove and were ready for more exploring. Fayette is a mere 3 miles away from South River Cove, making for a very short sail, so we didn’t even leave the South River anchorage until early afternoon.
I had been claiming for years that Kristin needed to check out Fayette, Michigan at some point. I’ve claimed that a trip to Michigan’s Garden Peninsula… or even a sailing trip along Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula… wouldn’t be complete without a stop at Snail Shell Harbor in Fayette. I had described Fayette as a “ghost town” in a “cute harbor” with an “abandoned factory,” all of which are accurate, but Kristin wasn’t convinced. She heard “abandoned factory” as, “rusty, dangerous eyesore” that would only be interesting to engineering nerds like me. When I accidentally referred to Fayette by its full official name, “Fayette Historic State Park,” she got much more interested.
Fayette Historic State Park is definitely worth taking at least several hours to explore, with restored buildings and a few hiking trails. Fayette was a factory town over a century ago, where almost 500 people lived and worked. Used for smelting iron into “pigs” for efficient transport aboard ships arriving at the harbor, the plant closed in the 1890s, and nobody has lived in Fayette for many decades. Much of the factory buildings are now merely large stone facades with new roofs that prevent further deterioration. Some of the town buildings, like the hotel, and some of the houses, have been restored enough that you can walk around inside. Being a park, there’s plenty of displays to read about the history of the company and the closing of the town. Fayette lies in Snail Shell Harbor, a cute name for one of the prettiest and most protected natural harbors on Lake Michigan. Hiking around yields some really nice views.
The hardest part of entering Snail Shell Harbor is finding it. There’s very little detail of the harbor on the chart, and the terrain that makes it so pretty and protected also hides it from view when on the open water of Big Bay de Noc. Having the lighted red bell buoy outside the entrance helps a bunch, but even with a GPS it’s hard to believe a harbor lies amongst the cliffs even when only a mile out.
Navigating into the harbor is easy once you find the entrance. After leaving the red bell buoy to starboard, I just aim for the middle. I don’t remember what the depths were, but they were way more than 10 feet until just before the docks. I bet there were weeds on the bottom, too, which makes the depth sounder struggle a bit. Most of the slips were deep enough for our 6 foot draft. I’ve tried anchoring here once, but holding was poor.
Before this year I had only been to Fayette once before, ten years earlier. Back then, a mere wooden dock with a few cleats were the only “services,” with a drop box to pay by cash in an envelope similar to renting a campsite. Now things are a little more modern… floating docks, finger piers, power, and water. Once entering the harbor, I was actually able to communicate with a park ranger (whom I never saw) on the VHF for a slip assignment, though that was probably a waste of time. Slips can be reserved online, and “Reserved” slips are marked with signs that are only sorta kept up to date. Technically there are toilets and maybe a shower somewhere, but nowhere near the slips. Payment is still submitted via the drop box, though this time I wrote a check!
