St. Clair Freighter Walk Starting Point

For those wanting to experience the historic and massive Great Lakes freighters in a different way, the City of St. Clair’s Freighter Walk gives Great Lakes ship watchers a better understanding of just how large (or small) twenty-two current or former Great Lakes vessels really are. The 1/5 mile Freighter Walk uses brass markers attached to the Boardwalk along the St. Clair River in the city’s Palmer Park. Each marker highlights the name, length and date of construction of one of 22 famous Great Lakes ships.

The Freighter Walk begins near the middle of the Boardwalk with a brass “Start" plate located immediately downhill below the statue of the Waving Lady. The Freighter Walk then travels south along the Boardwalk ending at 1,013 ft. with the marker for the Great Lakes freighter Paul R. Tregurtha, the longest of the Great Lakes vessels ever built. Other vessels with markers include the 40 ft. Le Griffon, built in 1679 and the 729 ft. Edmund Fitzgerald which was lost in a storm in November 1975.

St. Clair, Michigan's Boardwalk is a freighter watching destination for thousands of visitors to the city each year. St. Clair and the Boardwalk are located on the St. Clair River at the mid point between Port Huron and Lake St. Clair. Great Lakes freighters of all shapes and sizes pass by the park on their way from ports on Lake Superior to destinations on the Detroit River, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario or the St. Lawrence Estuary. Cargoes include Canadian grain bound for Europe, Iron Ore for the Great Lakes Steel Mills, Rock Salt for road deicing in the winter, limestone for steel production, and petroleum products bound for Canada's maritime provinces from refineries in Sarnia, Ontario (across from Port Huron.) Excursion boats also give passengers the excitement of touring the St. Clair River then passing under the Blue Water Bridges (U.S. to Canada crossing) into southern Lake Huron.

St. Clair's beautiful Palmer Park entices visitors to freighter watch because it has the longest freshwater boardwalk in North America. The Park and Boardwalk were created in 1968 when an Urban Renewal project demolished most of the dilapidated buildings along St. Clair's riverfront. This new park made freighter watching more accessible and enjoyable.

Because of a shallow area in the middle of the St. Clair River, freighters traveling both up-bound and down-bound pass within 125 feet of the Boardwalk. Visitors are impressed with the sheer size of the freighters. To give them an even great appreciation of freighter sizes, the St. Clair Leadership Team created the St. Clair Freighter Walk in the Spring of 2022. Brass markers screwed to the Boardwalk mark the name, date of construction and length of 22 ships from the earliest (LeGriffon) at 49 ft. to the longest, Paul R. Tregurtha, at 1013.6 ft.

A Freighter Walk brochure is posted in a kiosk in the park but more detailed information on each of the ships in included in this Clio Walking Tour. Enjoy!!

St. Clair, by Charles Homberg, St. Clair Historical Commission, 2007; St. Clair Historical Museum and Research Center archives; Great Lakes Ships data base, Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, Alpena, Michigan; Great Lakes Freighters by Rand Shackleton, Thunder Bay Press, 2003.