Muskegon Audio Tours

Muskegon sits at the mouth of the Muskegon River where it empties into Lake Michigan, and the city's name comes from the Ottawa word for 'marshy river.' Euro-American settlement began in earnest in 1837 when lumber companies realised that the forests of western Michigan were almost impossibly valuable. At its peak, Muskegon had over 40 sawmills operating simultaneously and was producing more lumber than any other city in the world. When the white pines were gone by the 1890s, the wealth that remained built magnificent Victorian mansions, and you can still visit the extraordinary Hackley House on West Webster Avenue, a Queen Anne showpiece built by lumber baron Charles Hackley in 1889.

The USS Silversides, a World War II Gato-class submarine moored on the waterfront, is one of the best-preserved wartime submarines anywhere in America, and climbing through its cramped interior is a genuinely affecting experience.

Lake Michigan's eastern shore here offers some of the finest freshwater beaches in the country, and the sand dunes around Muskegon State Park give the city an almost coastal character in summer. Muskegon is the most populous city on Lake Michigan's eastern shore, a fact that surprises many visitors who know it only as a ferry port connecting to Milwaukee.