A not-insignificant number of parables from history revolve around humans valiantly trying (and mostly stupendously failing) to enact their will over nature. One such local example is the many attempts to construct a safe port on Lake Michigan. Historically, Pentwater has been the only “safe harbor” - literally and figuratively - in Oceana County, with its natural, easily dredged channel leading a short distance to Pentwater Lake.
That did not stop communities such as Stony Lake from constructing a series of piers to allow vacationers access to the community by boat, and it did not stop Charles Mears’ from attempting (unsuccessfully) to dredge Silver Creek Channel. Both of these constructions were devised to make commerce and recreation easier along the beachside community popping up along the lakeshore.
For 34 years in the late 1800s, just south of Little Sable Pointe Lighthouse, a pier stretched into Lake Michigan. From it, a near straight-line road was drawn east, and a bustling commercial strip sprung up alongside it. The area, now Buchanan Road, is quiet, with Cherry Point Market and the Blackberry Ridge historic plaque as the main landmarks. The impromptu port was known by many names throughout its three-decade tenure - the first of which is Sammons Landing.
Following the expulsion of Native Americans from the West Michigan area, the land was put up for sale by the U.S. government as “homestead” property to promote westward expansion at $1.25 an acre. By 1856, the beachfront properties belonged to a collection of names that would ring a bell as early Oceana County pioneers - Martin Tyson, Alexander Anderson, Charles Rosevelt, Harvey Tower, etc. By 1866, much of the land, amounting to 450 acres, was registered to Alonzo Hyde and his son, who served as the first and second lighthouse keepers of Big Sable Pointe from 1867-1869 and 1869-1871, respectively.
The first pier in Stony Lake was built in 1867, Pentwater’s harbor was tried and true, but if you were to travel to either of these depots from the tracts of Little Sable Pointe land, a long journey on sandy roads lay ahead of you. This was the trouble that faced anyone wanting to transport goods and travelers.
Joseph H. Sammons and Orson O. Fox came to Oceana County in 1869, purchasing property from the Hydes and forming a company together - Sammons & Fox. Sammons was in the barrel-making business (called “cooperage”), and Fox earned a civil engineering degree from the University of Michigan. Over the next several years, the duo purchased property, milled wood, made barrels, and operated shops and housing along Stone Church Road, not far from the existing post office at Blackberry Ridge. The area quickly drew neighbors, the community becoming more populated and taking advantage of the general store selling goods from Chicago.
Much of the timber milled was used for the production of barrels, and raw materials and finished products were shipped directly from the beach where “lighters” (unpowered, flat-bottomed barges) shuttled goods back and forth between steamships moored in deeper waters. As the dunes were cleared of timber, Sammons & Fox began cultivating peach trees - and still, there was no quick, efficient way to transport the goods, especially one so perishable as fruit.
In February 1879, the Pentwater News announced that Sammons and Fox were preparing to build a wooden pier on the lake to serve their business ventures. The undertaking of such a project must have come as no surprise. Sammons by this time was locally renowned as a township supervisor and prosperous business man, and if you’ll recall, Fox was a civil engineer. They had the expertise, money and local sway to construct a pier. And the locals were seemingly thrilled for the project, as the news reported, “there is no place on the East shore of Lake Michigan where a pier is so badly needed for the shipment of fruit and other products, as at this point (Little Sable) and we really hope that the enterprise of Mr. Sammons in building a pier, may be crowned with success.” The pier, several-hundred feet long and sticking straight out into the lake, was completed and became known as Sammons Landing.
For the next five years, Sammons (prior to the pier’s completion, Fox had left to settle in Kenosha, Wisconsin) utilized his landing as the hub of his farming and shipping business. It wasn’t just fruit, grains and general store goods that passed through Sammons Landing - several passenger ships, such as the steamship Gracie Barker, docked at the pier. Sammons Landing even acquired Blackberry’s Ridge post office, with Sammons as postmaster.
However, by 1884, the sudden and prolonged illness of Sammons’ wife Betsey compelled him to return to Kenosha as well. The post office was still operational, but the rest of Sammons’ business ventures were slowly forgotten, and soon the pier too was washed away by the lake.
But that was certainly not the end of Sammons Landing and the Blackberry Ridge community, as, in years following, other ambitious business men would tackle the pier and become (temporary) king of Little Sable Pointe. And trust that we will discuss them in the following weeks.
Special thanks to Mark Thomas, who thoroughly researched this subject (two whole binders, and he’s not even done!), brought it to my attention and provided the photos included. As always, history is a communal study!
