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96. Pier Cove

A steam ship docked at the piers of Pier Cove in 1896. Pier Cove is about 1 mile south of M-89 on Lakeshore Drive.

 

This early Lakeshore settlement (ca. 1849) with piers extending into Lake Michigan was platted in 1859 and grew to include a post office, Methodist church, hotel, store, a dozen houses, several fruit storage warehouses, and two mills (one for lumber and one used as a grist/flour mill). The Greek Revival Methodist parsonage (built 1860) still stands at 2347 Lakeshore Drive. The hotel stayed open until 1875, and stories tell of one night in 1871 when 101 couples danced in the hotel hall. In addition to fruit and lumber, exports included tanbark and cord wood. A regular steamship schedule provided transport for summer cottage residents to and from Chicago. Eventually, widespread clear-cutting of the local woods left the area barren and a victim of blowing sand and erosion. Well-known Chicago landscape designer O. C. Simonds (who designed Morton Arboretum, Graceland Cemetery, and parts of Chicago’s Lincoln Park) began major experimentation with land restoration in the 1890s. Simonds introduced new plant varieties and modes of dune stabilization on his property. Now a nature preserve, the 100-acre Pier Cove Ravine arboretum is open to the public.