Hartwick Pines State Park
| Hartwick Pines State Park | |
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IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
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 Location within the state of Michigan
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| Location | Grayling Township, Crawford County, Michigan, USA |
| Nearest city | Grayling, Michigan |
| Coordinates | 44°44′50″N 84°40′7″W / 44.74722°N 84.66861°WCoordinates: 44°44′50″N 84°40′7″W / 44.74722°N 84.66861°W |
| Area | 9,672 acres (39.14 km2) |
| Established | 1927 |
| Governing body | Michigan Department of Natural Resources |
| http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/Details.aspx?type=SPRK&id=453 | |
Hartwick Pines State Park is a 9,672 acres (39.14 km2) state park in the US state of Michigan, located in Crawford County near Grayling and Interstate 75. It is the third largest state park on Michigan's Lower Peninsula and the state's fifth-biggest park overall. The park contains an old growth forest of white pines and red pines that resembles the appearance of all of Northern Michigan prior to the logging era.
The Hartwick Pines are a 49 acres (0.20 km2) old-growth remnant of a pine grove that was withdrawn from logging by a local timbering firm in 1927. At that time, very little old-growth pine remained in northern Michigan. One of the heirs of the firm's original owners, Karen Michelson Hartwick, donated the grove, which was then 85 acres (0.34 km2) in size, and 8,000 surrounding acres (32.4 km2) of cutover land to the state of Michigan as a memorial to the logging industry.
The state accepted the gift and worked with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to build the Hartwick Pines Logging Museum adjacent to the grove. The museum was erected in 1934–1935. It contains recreated exhibit rooms, photographs and artifacts of the lumber boom years of northern Michigan. The museum is located in two replica logging camp buildings and also contains outdoor exhibits of logging equipment and an enclosed steam-powered sawmill that is operated during summer special events. The Logging Museum is administered by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources' Michigan History Museum.
The last remaining virgin maple and beech hardwood forest in the state is at Warren Woods State Park.
DNR pamphlet titled Hartwick Pines State Park AuSable River and Mertz Grade Foot Trail 5/2000
On November 11, 1940, the Armistice Day Blizzard badly damaged the Hartwick Pines old-growth pine grove. 36 acres (0.15 km2) of old trees were destroyed by windthrow from this and other storms, leaving behind the 49 acres (200,000 m2) that remain alive as of 2007.
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