The Port Austin Reef Light is located in Lake Huron approximately 2½ miles north of the Port Austin Harbor and Port Austin, Michigan. The station was established and first lit in 1878 and after a devastating fire, modified in 1899. It is still operational and acts as an automated beacon to this day.

Enjoy one of the nicest lighthouses on the sunrise side of Lake Huron. Enjoy a short boat ride to the lighthouse and learn about its history from friendly and informative volunteer docents. Guided tours are available on Saturdays in the summer.

Dedicated to the men and women of the historic sit-down strike of 1936-1937 at General Motors, Flint, this marble and bronze monument depicts an actual scene from inside the plant during the strike. The monument was created by Janice Trimpe, Master Sculptor. Check the website for hours of operation and special events.

The Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame was created by the Bruin Club of Mott Community College in 1980. For over 40 years, the Hall of Fame has provided a vehicle for our community to recognize and celebrate the unsurpassed history of athletic achievement and community service that has been so much a part of the Flint area.

Visit the Greater Flint African American Sports Hall of Fame at the Flint Public Library (temporarily housed at Courtland Center while the main library is under renovation) - a collection of over 200 plaques and an interactive kiosk that celebrates 35 years of honoring and preserving Flint’s illustrious history in sports.

For a county of its size, Genesee County, Michigan, has produced some of the most important innovations, products, people, and social movements of modern times. Exploring its fascinating history will uncover colorful stories of people, places, and events that are powerful, surprising, moving, catastrophic, and triumphant. The mission of the Genesee County Historical Society is to preserve, promote, and document the history of Genesee County.

The Fenton Museum houses an extensive genealogy room for the Fenton and surrounding area. It has cemetery records for all over Genesee County. The Historical Society is the keeper of school history for Fenton and has an area of the Museum devoted to it. The Museum is staffed by Historical Society volunteers and is open to the public on Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m., but arrangements can be made for group tours as well.

The Steam Railroading Institute is dedicated to educating the public about steam-era railroading in Michigan and the Great Lakes Region. This includes the preservation of the skills and technology for maintaining steam locomotives by operating steam-era equipment and providing the experience of steam locomotives in actual operation.

Step back in time at the charming Linden Mills Historical Museum! Visitors can see historical treasures like the rare Beach Buggy carriage made at the Joe Beach Buggy Factory in Linden, hear sounds from a parlor phonograph, and marvel at the vintage items in the General Store. Old toys will delight the youngsters and a revered military display is of special interest to veterans. Our museum is handicap accessible. Hours are 1-4 pm on the 2nd & 4th Sunday, June through October.

The Kettering University Archives is located at Factory One in Flint. The focus of the archives is to preserve and provide access to the history of Kettering University, the automotive industry, and Flint. The Special Collections and University Archives were established in 1974, largely through the vision and research interests of Richard P. Scharchburg and members of the University’s Alumni Foundation. The nexus of the collection was the acquisition of the William C. “Billy” Durant Collection from Durant’s widow, which has grown into a collection in excess of 4,500 linear feet of documents (manuscripts and photographs, mainly), plus several hundred books and other “artifacts.”

The Hadley House Museum, built in 1873, is a Victorian Italianate style home with original woodwork and four bedrooms. The first occupant was Dr. Daniel D. Bartholomew, who lived and practiced there until the early 1900s. Afterward, the residence was continually occupied by the Hadley family, from one generation to another. Tom and Arlene Hadley were the last private owners, and in 1986, Arlene Hadley sold her lovely home to the Holly Historical Society. The society had outgrown its first museum, the Patterson House, on East Maple Street.

The Flint Cultural Center invites you on a journey of discovery and imagination to a place where you can experience entertainment, embrace knowledge, and dream beyond the world you know. As home to a group of nationally-recognized cultural institutions aimed at furthering the arts, sciences, and humanities, the FCC offers a truly unique educational and entertainment resource. Through live performances, unique exhibits, classes, and more, the FCC brings it ALL within your reach.

Declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978, the Durant-Dort building served as the focal point for William C. Durant and J. Dallas Dort's promotional activities in the carriage and automobile businesses from 1896 to 1913 and is credited with being the 1908 birthplace of General Motors. It remains the last physical link to Durant's pioneer efforts in the carriage and automobile business.

The village of Vernon Center (now Durand) was built up around the railroads in the late 1850s. After the rapid expansion of the railroad in the 1870s, the village incorporated itself as Durand in 1887. This was a very busy station as the Grand Trunk Western and Ann Arbor Railroads crossed at grade there. During the early 1900s when the railroad industry was at its peak, 42 passenger trains, 22 mail trains, and 78 freight trains passed through Durand daily. Durand Union Station handled approximately 3,000 passengers per day, making it a prospering hub of the industry.

Clio's beginning was almost by accident. Until the building and completion of the Flint and Pere-Marquette Railway in 1861, Clio's history was comparatively uneventful. Pine forests occupied a portion of its site, and hundreds of acres of the same valuable timber were standing in its immediate vicinity, but the stupid cupidity which actuated one or two men in or near the old village of Pine Run during the building of the railways was Clio's opportunity, and this new avenue of commerce, which would have more fully developed and built up a neat little village, already an important trading and manufacturing point, was divided from its proposed route. Pine Run was given the go-by and the station of Clio was established in its place.

Applewood is the historic home of automotive pioneer Charles Stewart Mott and family. While many wealthy men of C.S. Mott’s time built even bigger and more imposing homes meant to impress, the house at Applewood was created for family and friends and reflects this in its warm and intimate interior. Built on a 65-acre plot of land to accommodate a gentleman’s farm, the original buildings include the main house, garage, barn, chicken coop, and gardener’s cottage.

Enter the doors of the St. Clair Historical Museum and travel back more than 250 years to the community’s beginning as a British Fort, moving to its days as a Michigan lumbering and brick manufacturing mecca, through its transition to salt purification, and shipbuilding.

Opened on February 11, 2001, the Thomas Edison Depot Museum was the second satellite facility to open as part of the Port Huron Museum. It is housed inside the historic Fort Gratiot train depot built in 1858 by the Grand Trunk Railway, and is the actual depot that Thomas Edison worked out of as a news reporter between 1859 and 1863. Trains connecting here carried people and freight between Port Huron and Detroit, Point Edward/Sarnia (Ontario), and other destinations, linking Port Huron to the rest of the world.

The Port Huron Museum of Arts and History was founded in 1967, and through a community-wide volunteer effort, opened its doors in 1968. Housed in an historic Carnegie Library (built in 1904), the Museum provides exhibitions and programs relating to local history, fine arts (with an emphasis on regional art), decorative arts, natural history, and Great Lakes marine lore. The Museum is the only year-round, multi-disciplinary cultural institution in Michigan’s Thumb Region (a five-county area). The Museum began as a completely volunteer-operated organization, and now employs a staff of seven full-time, three part-time, and seasonal part-time staff during the summer months. In addition to serving our own community, the Museum is recognized throughout the state of Michigan and nationally as a center for research in folk arts, archeology, and Great Lakes marine lore.

Enter into the past when ice was delivered to your door by horse and wagon! Displayed, are over 3,000 items used in the cutting, harvesting, storing, selling and use of natural ice from one of the largest industries in the United States around 1900. View a rare film of ice harvesting in the early 1920s. See ice boxes, tools and an actual size ice wagon. See antique collections: mild industry, license plates, vehicles, dolls and doll buggies and much more.