Travel Diaries: Grindstone City General Store

Grindstone City is located about 5 miles east of Port Austin at the tip of Michigan\’s thumb on the shores of Lake Huron. Grindstone City is filled with so much history, but now all that remains of this once booming town is the Grindstone General Store home to supersized servings of ice cream. 

Get to know Grindstone City
In 1836, Captain Peer purchased 400 acres of land to establish a grindstone quarrying and manufacturing operation. The stone Peer discovered was abrasive with a fine-grit that was unique to the tip of Michigan\’s thumb and part of the Marshall Sandstone formation. Peer and his team built a horse-powered grist mill to make grinding wheels and whetstones.

The company produced grindstones that varied from small kitchen grinding wheels to large grinding stones weighing over three tons. The largest grindstone they ever turned out weighted over six tons!

Demand for the large sharpening stone quickly earned the Upper Thumb region the nickname of the Grindstone Capital of the world. Grindstone City produced the largest and finest grindstones, scythestones in the world

Today, massive grindstones can still be seen along the shoreline of Lake Huron.

Grindstone General Store

Step right up for a supersized serving of hand-dipped ice cream in the quaint little town of Grindstone, just outside of Port Austin at the tip of the thumb. This adorable shop opened back in the 1890s and is the last remaining business of Grindstone City, a once-thriving stone-mining town. The market for grindstones may have melted away years ago, but the love for ice cream has not. These colossal cones are what keeps this little town on the map and why it\’s a must stop. Seriously, these scoops are so big, even the baby is unbelievably large. 

Note: I got a baby that was turned into two scoops because I couldn\’t decide on a flavor. Typically two scoops are gigantic – I\’m talking bigger than my head.