Porch Notes
Onaway State Park on Black Lake
Outdoors
On the southeast shore of Black Lake, a few miles north of the town of Onaway, sits Onaway State Park — one of the oldest parks in Michigan’s whole state-park system. It was dedicated back in 1921, and you can still feel that history in the stone shelters and the old shade trees; much of the early work was done by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, and the park is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
It’s a smaller park, about 160 acres, but a pretty one. The shoreline here is unusual — sandy in places, cobblestone in others, with big rock outcroppings you don’t see on most inland lakes. There’s a modern campground, a swimming beach, rustic cabins, and a three-mile trail that loops through the woods. The terrain rolls up and down, so it feels wilder than its size.
The park sits on Black Lake, one of the largest inland lakes in Michigan and famous for its winter sturgeon season. For buyers, the Black Lake side of the county offers big-lake access and quiet, wooded lots, often at gentler prices than the resort lakes farther west. You can find the park’s maps and camping at Michigan.gov/DNR.