Pierce Stocking's contribution to roadside America.

Original sign Original sign Original sign

This web site has been created as a collection place for anything that relates to the original Sleeping Bear Dunes Park--Pierce Stocking's "14 miles of scenic beauty." In the late 1960s, Pierce Stocking carved out a road over and across Sleeping Bear Dunes offering scenic vistas, parking and picnic areas, and views of Lake Michigan from over 400 feet above the lake. He also created the entrance area shown in the photo above. Stocking built a picnic area where visitors could relax on the grass, stroll amongst hundreds of fragrant roses, and walk into a living model of the five Great Lakes outlining the State of Michigan!

This entrance area, sometimes known as the Great Lakes picnic gardens, is our focus. We want to raise awareness of the importance of this spot and to protect and preserve this place before it is gone forever.

The GLPG is presently closed to the public and there are plans to finish the demolition of the remaining cultural artifacts. Ultimately, those plans are for the site to be returned to a totally natural state--with no evidence that there ever was anything cultural here.

We would not only not like that to happen, but we would like, if we can, to return this area to a functioning picnic area. A place to relax after climbing on the Dune Climb, or stop in as you pedal your bike on the Heritage Trail, or just come and learn about native plant species in the reborn gardens that might once again surround Stocking's Great Lake ponds!

And who is Pierce Stocking? He built a scenic drive over the dunes--a major local tourist attraction--but what else do we know about him? We think that Stocking's story needs to be told in a little more detail. And we think the GLPA could be a good place to do that.

So let's learn about wild flowers, native plants, and Pierce Stocking before it is all gone.

About our organization

People pulling together to save, clean up, and hopefully make functional again a quiet, green area for folks to rest, picnic, and enjoy nature near the Sleeping Bear Dune Climb near Glen Lake.
Read more.

Our mission

We are simply gathering information and trying to raise awareness about the first entrance to the Stocking Scenic Drive--the original Sleeping Bear Dunes Park. We would like to see an educational native plant garden built on this site allowing visitors a quiet place to relax and learn about native plants, invasive species , and also learn about Pierce Stocking.

Tell us your stories!

We would like to get stories of your visits to the GLPG, and pictures are always desired. Can you help us out? Preserving our collective experiences is important as we try and preserve this place.

Learn more about sharing your stories!

Media gallery

Visit the Media Gallery to view our growing collection, including a link to a video about Dunesmobile #9.

Frequently Asked Questions


Who was Pierce Stocking?

Pierce Stocking (1908 - 1976) spent his youth working as a lumberman in Michigan's forests. In 1948, he bought forest land from D.H. Day south of Glen Haven.

When Pierce Stocking purchased the land at Day Forest Hill there was enough new growth to warrant a selective harvest. The sawmill he set up produced considerable waste that was converted to charcoal in kilns located at the present site of the trailhead for the Alligator Hill hiking trail. This loose, dusty, random-sized material was packed in bags for shipment to stores in much of Michigan for sale to campers and picnickers.

Stocking loved the woods and spent most of his spare time there, developing a self-taught knowledge of nature. He used to walk the bluffs above Lake Michigan, awed by the view of the dunes, Lake Michigan, and the islands. He wanted to share this beauty with others and conceived the idea of a road to the top of the dunes.

The planning for the road began in the early 1960s and in 1967, the road, then known as Sleeping Bear Dunes Park, first opened to the public. Stocking continued to operate the scenic drive until his death in 1976. In 1977, the road became part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Several years later, based on public opinion, the drive was named the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive.

Why did he build this attraction?

The GLPG was the first entrance station to Stocking's scenic road up and over the dunes. The national park was created in 1970, the road became part of the park in 1977 and in 1984 the park service moved the entrance to the road and built the observation platforms. The name was later changed to Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive in honor of Stocking.

In addition to purchasing admission to the drive at the entrance station in the GLPA, visitors could get out of their cars and eat their picnic lunch, find some shade to cool off in, fill their water jugs, or stretch their legs while walking around flowing pools of water that accurately represented all five Great Lakes. The water would flow doen from Lake Superior via a miniature St. Mary's River into Lakes Huron and Michigan. There even was a foot bridge connecting "Detroit" to Windsor."

Blacktop paths led up, into, and around the "mitten" we know as Michigan, all the while surrounded by hundreds of different colored rose bushes. There were birch trees planted at strategic locations representing major Michigan cities. Visitors enjoyed the aroma and the beauty of all the roses while getting a mini-geography lesson! It was really a marvelously constructed and maintained American roadside attraction.

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