- White Rock, Michigan
White Rock is a tiny unincorporated community of Sherman Township at the southeast corner of Huron County in the
U.S. state ofMichigan . The community is at the mouth of White Rock Creek on the shore ofLake Huron . The community is at coord|43|42|35|N|82|36|31|W|, about three miles north of Forestville and about nine miles south of Harbor Beach on M-25 at the junction with White Rock Road.The community is named for a large white boulder offshore in Lake Huron at coord|43|43|09|N|82|36|16|W| that was used as a
boundary marker to define the territory ceded by Ottawa, Chippewa,Wyandot , andPotawatomi with theTreaty of Detroit in 1807. The boundary definition in the treaty began with the "mouth of the Miami river of the lakes" or what is now known as theMaumee River atToledo, Ohio . From there the boundary ran up the middle of the river to the mouth of theAuglaize River at what is nowDefiance, Ohio , then due north until it intersected a parallel of latitude at the outlet ofLake Huron into theSt. Clair River . This north-south line would become theMichigan Meridian used in surveying of Michigan lands. The intersecting parallel of latitude crossed the meridian at the northeast corner of what is now Sciota Township in Shiawassee County in the middle of the border with Clinton County. From this point the treaty boundary ran northeast to White Rock in Lake Huron, then due east to the international boundary with what was thenUpper Canada , and then along the international boundary through the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River and then into Lake Erie to a point due east of the mouth of the Maumee River, and finally west back to the point of beginning.Edward Petit, the first white settler in Huron County, opened a trading post on nearby Shebeon Creek and later moved the post to White Rock. It is labelled as "White Rock City" on some early maps. By the mid-1830s, it was a thriving village and gained its own post office in 1859. The community was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1871 (also known as the
Port Huron Fire of 1871 , which destroyed huge swaths in several portions of theLower Peninsula of Michigan , but was overshadowed by theGreat Chicago Fire andPeshtigo Fire inWisconsin which occurred on the same day). The town soon rebuilt, but never grew beyond a small community.The
Michigan Department of Transportation began construction of White Rock Roadside Park along M-25 in 2000. Completed in 2003, the small park has a parking lot, outhouses, a historical marker, and public access to the beach of Lake Huron.External links
* [http://www.michmarkers.com/startup.asp?startpage=L0202.htm Michigan Historical Marker for White Rock School]
* [http://lighthouse.boatnerd.com/gallery/Faux%20Lights/WhiteRock.htm White Rock Memorial Light]
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