Best Web Design in Grayling, MI (2026)

Web Design for Grayling, Michigan

Grayling is the seat of Crawford County, a former lumber boomtown on the Au Sable River that reinvented itself as an outdoor-recreation hub and canoeing mecca. It is named for the Arctic grayling, a fish so prized that residents renamed the town for it in the 1870s, only to see the species wiped out of Michigan by 1936 largely because of the logging that made the town rich. Home to the nation's largest National Guard training base and the grueling Au Sable River Canoe Marathon, it markets itself as the 'Canoe Capital of the World.'

AppWT serves Grayling and the surrounding Michigan area from Livonia, Michigan.

About Grayling

Also known as. Canoe Capital of the World. Milltown (lumber-era name). formerly Crawford Station / Crawford.

History. The area was founded in 1872 when Michael Shoat Hartwick built a log hotel by the railroad tracks; the railroad platted about 40 acres and first named the settlement 'Crawford.' Residents renamed the town 'Grayling' around 1874 to 1875 after the grayling fish then abundant in the Au Sable River, reportedly holding a meeting to change the name once the fish was identified as a distinct species. Grayling is the county seat of Crawford County, which was established in 1840 as 'Shawono' (from the Ojibwe word for 'from the south') and renamed in 1843 for Revolutionary War figure Colonel William Crawford. During the lumber era the town was also known by names such as AuSable, Forest, Crawford Station, and Milltown. The Grayling Fish Hatchery was founded in 1914 by lumber baron Rasmus Hanson, with backing from Henry Ford, Edsel Ford, and Thomas Edison, in an attempt to restore the vanishing fish. Logging destroyed the Arctic grayling's breeding grounds, and the species was extirpated from Michigan by 1936.

Local economy. Originally a lumber economy; today it centers on tourism, outdoor recreation, and retail service for the surrounding forests and rivers. Canoe and kayak liveries (Carlisle's Canoe, Penrod's, and Borchers) built around Au Sable River trips are a signature local industry. Camp Grayling, the largest National Guard training site in the United States, generates an estimated $20 million a year in local economic activity. Bear Archery, founded by legendary bowhunter Fred Bear, operated in Grayling from 1947 to 1978 before relocating to Florida. Health care and services anchored historically by Mercy Hospital, built in 1911 by logging barons.

Culture and community. The Au Sable River Canoe Marathon runs 120 miles from Grayling to Oscoda on the last full weekend of July and is billed as the longest nonstop canoe race in North America and one leg of canoe racing's Triple Crown. Hanson Hills, which opened in 1929, is cited as the first downhill ski area in Michigan and remains a local skiing and recreation spot. Fly fishing for trout on the Au Sable and Manistee rivers is central to local identity, along with cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, and deer hunting (the November 15 opener). Wellington Farm Park hosts events like 'Dairy Days,' a Tractor & Engine Show, 'Punkin-Chunkin,' and Halloween hayrides. The Kirtland Center for the Performing Arts brings touring acts, including The Second City, to the area.

What makes Grayling distinct. Grayling is cited as the smallest municipality in Michigan to levy a local income tax (1% on residents). The town's namesake fish went extinct in the state largely because of the logging wealth that built the town, an irony memorialized by a hatchery its lumber barons funded. In 1916 lumber baron Rasmus Hanson donated 13,826 acres of cut-over Crawford County land to Michigan, creating the state's first state-owned game preserve. Hanson Hills contains a tiny cemetery holding the graves of two Michigan 125th Infantry Regiment soldiers from the 1920s-30s. Bowhunting icon Fred Bear ran his Bear Archery Company here for three decades before a labor strike prompted the move south. Despite its outsized recreational fame, the city's population is only around 1,867 (2020 census).

Grayling Landmarks and Local Life

• Hartwick Pines State Park - about 7 miles northeast, preserving one of Michigan's last stands of old-growth eastern white pine
• Camp Grayling - occupying roughly 147,000 acres and described as the nation's largest National Guard training site
• Lake Margrethe - named for lumber baron Rasmus Hanson's wife, a popular fishing and recreation lake
• The Au Sable River - whose main branch runs through the city and gave the town its fish namesake
• Crawford County Historical Museum - housed in the restored Grayling railroad depot
• The Grayling Fish Hatchery - now operated as a private fish farm

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