The Grayling area is a sanctuary for those who seek the great outdoors; a paradise for all who long to refresh their spirit. Visit the Grayling area and enter “River Time Zone”, where time has no meaning. Silent sports enthusiasts love the opportunities the area offers for canoeing and kayaking, fishing, hiking, biking and birdwatching. Families enjoy the activities offered at Hartwick Pines State Park, the Grayling Fish Hatchery and numerous area playgrounds. Historical buffs visit Wellington Farm, USA and the Crawford County and Lovells Historical Museums. Cold weather enthusiasts crave the snowmobiling, cross country and downhill skiing, snowboarding, tubing and snowshoeing that have made Crawford County so popular. With the abundant public and forest land also come many state parks, state and private campgrounds. Grayling’s Uptown District offers unique shopping opportunities and numerous original restaurants and bars are located throughout the county.
Camp Grayling – Camp Grayling is the largest National Guard training facility in the U.S., due to its many ranges and ample maneuver areas. It was founded in 1913 on an initial grant of land from Grayling lumber baron Rasmus Hanson to the State of Michigan for military training, and now spans 147,000 acres in Crawford, Kalkaska and Otsego counties. Much of that acreage is accessible to the public for hunting, fishing, snowmobiling and other recreational uses when military training is not taking place.
Crawford County Historical Museum – Located in the restored railroad depot in downtown Grayling the museum offers a trip to the 19th and 20th centuries. It is a nostalgic jaunt through the lumbering era when Grayling was a leading participant. The grounds also include a railroad caboose, a military building dedicated to local ex-military personnel and to Camp Grayling, a trapper’s cabin, an old fashioned firefighting station, and a popular display is devoted to one of the greatest archers of all time, Fred Bear.
Fish Hatchery – Over 5,000 trout swim in the ponds of the Grayling Fish Hatchery. Part of the fun of visiting the hatchery is watching the water churn as the greedy trout fight for their share of the fish food which can be purchased for a small donation. The thousands of brook, brown and rainbow trout range from 2 1/2 to 28 inches in length.
Hartwick Pines State Park & Logging Museum – With nearly 10,000 acres, Hartwick Pines State Park is the largest state park in Michigan’s northern lower peninsula and the 5th largest park in the entire state. Fittingly, it also contains the largest stand of virgin white pines remaining in the lower peninsula. Logging Museum – Return to the state’s 19th-century logging era, when thousands of men cut millions of board feet of lumber, and Michigan led the nation in sawed lumber production.
Lovells Historical Society – The museums are located on the Lovells Township Grounds at 8405 Twin Bridge Road in Lovells. Regular museum hours are Wednesdays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Wellington Farm, USA - Wellington Farm, USA is a 60-acre open-air interpretive museum designed to provide an educational opportunity for visitors to experience life as it was in rural mid-America during the Great Depression.
W.J. Beal Plantation – Planted in 1888, it may be the oldest documented tree plantation in North America.