Fishtown is a unique historical attraction composed of weather-beaten fishing shanties and small shops lining the mouth of the Leland River. The site has endured and adapted over the last 150 years as an ever-evolving working waterfront that still operates as one of the only unmodernized commercial fishing villages in the state of Michigan.
Click to see the shanty photo gallery
One of the most important characteristics of Fishtown is its core of historic shanties. Though only a few are still used for commercial fishing operations, most of the structures in Fishtown had their origins as commercial fishing buildings. These buildings served many purposes, including net-mending sheds, ice houses, smoke houses, and storage. Though processes like ice-making are now mechanized in a commercial fishery, running a fishery still requires extensive space for equipment storage and net repairs.
Many buildings have come and gone from the Fishtown landscape with the changing fortunes of the industry, yet Fishtown survives as a rare working waterfront and an authentic and active commercial fishing village.
It was a perfect summer afternoon. The hot sun was shining, and the breeze was calm. Everything was lining up for a great fishing trip on the FishBilly Charters out of Fishtown, captained by Bill Stephenson and his wife, Barbie. I was joined by my amazing colleagues from the Fishtown Preservation team, Amanda and Summer. […]
I’ve been a frequent visitor of Fishtown my whole life, though I never realized how important the fishing industry and aquatic ecosystem is to this place until I became an intern at Fishtown Preservation. While I know that Fishtown’s deepest roots are fishing, today the town has evolved into more than a fishing village. Over […]
Hello Fishtown, my name is Luke Stephenson. I am this Summer’s 2024 intern with Fishtown Preservation Society. I am currently a senior at Trinity Christian College majoring in Business Communications with a minor in Entrepreneurship. My journey towards learning about Fishtown goes back a couple of decades, but it truly began with Leland. The Leland […]
Leland became the Lake Michigan port for an iron smelting furnace in 1870. Chosen for its proximity to the iron port of Escanaba and abundance of hardwood, the region altered drastically during the construction of the new furnace. As workers flooded the area, the village of Leland needed to expand in order to accommodate the […]
