Grindstone City, Picnic
Wigwam, Christmas

An Abbreviated History

In the year 1834, Capt. Aaron G. Peer, with his Schooner, the Rip Van Winkle, was forced to take haven in this natural harbor, during a storm. Ca pt. Peer is known as the "father" of Grindstone City, and located the first land in what is now Huron County.

The sloop took anchorage here in a storm, and that Capt. Peer, his crew and his father came ashore to what was then a wilderness of pine, cedar, ash, beech, and maple, the cedar being so thick that snow remained in places although it was midsummer.

In their exploring they found some big flat stone along the beach and on further examination, found evidence that these strata of rock was underlying the area to a lesser or greater extent.

Samples were taken to Detroit where they were found superior to the Ohio flagstone which city officials were planning to use to pave some of the streets. He later took some of this rock to Detroit, where it was used to pave a few blocks on Jefferson and Woodward Avenues. This was the first use made of grindstone rock as far as is known

Quarrying the stones
The first step in quarrying the stone was stripping the field to be worked

"Turning the Stone"
"Turning" a stone means to carve the rock into a flat, round grindstone.

"Grindstone" is a special rock formation from the Marshall Sandstone. It is a grit stone finer than sandstone and used exclusively as a sharpening stone, which produces a finer edge than carborundum which has replaced it.

Source: A History of Grindstone City

Today

Grindstone City is located 2 1/2 hours from metropolitan Detroit, located at the tip of Michigan's Thumb, in the Greater Port Austin Area.