GRAND LEDGE, Mich. (Michigan Back Roads) – Grand Ledge, Michigan, is a small town west of Lansing that attracts large crowds several times a year. The town is famous for its St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Christmas Parade, the Riverboat Queen, and the Island Art Fair.

In addition to the festivals, visitors travel to Grand Ledge on any given weekend to paddle the Grand River and hike along the Ledges. The trail follows the course of the river, giving visitors access to the towering sandstone cliffs.

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Another natural attraction may be the only one of its kind in Lower Michigan. North of town on Tallman Road is Lincoln Brick Park. As visitors drive into the park along a gravel road, everything appears much as they would expect. The park encompasses 90 acres of recreational land and thousands of feet of Grand River frontage. Trails meander through the ruins, with interpretive signs marking key points of interest. They also wind through the woods, past playgrounds, and around the old quarry. Along the way, visitors will notice unexpected ruins. They don’t look like much—just a couple of walls and a chimney—but they are the first clues to what once stood here.

Farther into the park, observant visitors may notice enormous mounds. Those mounds are actually piles of fallen bricks. In addition to the mounds and the abandoned quarry, there is half-buried machinery and more ruins.

The ruins and brick mounds are all that remain of the Grand Ledge Brick Company. The kiln measured 300 feet long and remained in production for more than 100 years. The complex included 11 buildings stretching from the quarry to the kilns, all connected by railroad tracks. The factory manufactured hundreds of thousands of bricks used in buildings that are still standing today. Collectors still search the brick piles for shards of pottery that were also produced here.

A local legend claims that when the quarry and brick kilns shut down, a giant steam shovel was abandoned in the quarry and now rests underwater. Today, the quarry is a popular swimming spot for locals.

Learn more about Grand Ledge in the book “Best Kept Secrets.”