Ghost Town or Shadow Town? Pierport in Manistee County, Michigan
Is Pierport a ghost town or not?
It's listed in Michigan Ghost Towns of the Lower Peninsula as being such, and it may be a ghost of its former self – or more of a shadow town.
You'll find Pierport in Manistee County, not far from the Lake Michigan shore. A pier was built here in 1866 to ship wood and was originally named Turnersport.
FAST FACTS:
1868: Post office opens
1868: The village is developed
1872: Village name changed to Pierport by Charles W. Perry
1873-1890s: Pierport was also known as Perry's Pier, but an 1873 map shows that nearby is also a 'Turner's Pier'.
1933: Post office closes
Charles W. Perry kept busy in his little village. He was freight agent, justice of the peace, postmaster, school director, steamboat agent, township supervisor.....and in 1895 and 1897 was elected as State Representative.
Pierport had a blacksmith, carpenter, fruit grower, general stores, hotel, masons, sawmill, shoemaker, stagecoach stop, and stave factory. The village was booming and thriving with its output of lumber, fruit, potatoes, and grains...man, they were hot stuff!
Then, in the late 1880s, it began falling apart. In 1887 the town was hit with typhoid fever that killed off many residents. Three years later, the remaining residents began packing up and leaving, thanks to the depletion of timber and the railroad that stopped operating. The town drained itself so badly, the only business left was one general store - the Perry store. By 1898 the piers were no longer used and turned into skeletons.
After the post office closed in 1933, that was it. Today, there are still a small handful of residents in Pierport and just might feel like a ghost town when you drive through.
Pierport: Ghost Town or Shadow Town?
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