Portage Point
Portage Point is an unincorporated summer resort area of Onekama Township, Manistee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It includes the site of the first town on Portage Lake at 44°21′43″N 86°15′42″W / 44.36194°N 86.26167°W It is located on the narrow strip of land between Portage Lake and Lake Michigan developed by the Portage Point Association. A post office operated in summers from August 1917 until September 1921.
The area was probably visited by Henri de Tonty in 1679 and other early explorers of the eastern coast of Lake Michigan. The first known non-Native Americans to live for any length of time near Portage Point was the crew of the schooner Prince Eugene that wrecked on 15 November 1835 three or four miles (6 km) south of the present-day channel between Portage Lake and Lake Michigan. Not wanting to walk to the nearest town in winter, Grand Rapids or Muskegon, they built a log cabin in the dunes and waited for spring.
Michigan became a state in 1837, and in that same year the Federal government first surveyed the area around Portage Lake. At that time the lake was called "O-neK-ama-engk", which was believed to be the native word for "portage".
The natural outlet of Portage Lake was located about a mile north of the present-man made outlet. This stream ran northwesterly from the Portage Lake side (close to and crossing the section lines between sections 21 and 28) the present-day intersection of Ridge Avenue and Portage Point Drive, north along Norwood Avenue to cross Lakeisle Avenue and then to pass into Lake Michigan just north of the intersection of Lakeisle and Lakeside Avenue are located, almost exactly on the section line separating sections 28 and 33. It was recognized very early as an excellent site for a waterpowered saw mill.
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