Family Activities:

Sleeping Bear Point Coast Guard Maritime Museum

Attraction

Sleeping Bear Point Coast Guard Maritime Museum

Intersection of Glen Haven and Sleeping Bear Dunes Roads, Glen Haven, MI

Plan at least an hour or more to explore the old buildings and Sleeping Bear Point Life-Saving Station and Maritime Museum. Photos and artifacts show some of the harrowing rescues this life-saving Coast Guard station provided over the years. A fewindoor exhibits cater to kids, including an explanation of how a lighthouselens functions. A former cherry and apple cannery now houses a boat museum.

Time a visit with Thursday afternoons, and you can watch staff fire a cannon that would shoot a rescue rope to a sinking ship. Park rangers also let kids join a recreated early 1900’s shipwreck rescue mission at 3 p.m. weekdays during the summer.

The Glen Haven Historic Village (within a block of the museum) includes a replicated general store and blacksmith’s shop where you can catch craftsmen hammering out nails and sending sparks flying. Glen Haven also has one of the nicest beaches for strolling, swimming and playing in the sand.