Hoffmaster State Park

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title: "Hoffmaster State Park" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["state-parks-of-michigan", "beaches-of-michigan", "natural-history-museums-in-michigan", "museums-in-muskegon-county,-michigan", "museums-in-ottawa-county,-michigan", "protected-areas-of-muskegon-county,-michigan", "protected-areas-of-ottawa-county,-michigan", "nature-centers-in-michigan", "landforms-of-ottawa-county,-michigan", "landforms-of-muskegon-county,-michigan", "protected-areas-established-in-1963", "1963-establishments-in-michigan"] description: "State park in Michigan, United States" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoffmaster_State_Park" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary State park in Michigan, United States ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox park"]

Field	Value
name	P. J. Hoffmaster State Park
photo	Hoffmaster parabolic dune.jpg
photo_caption	Parabolic dune with damage to dune grass
on unauthorized trail in center of photograph
photo_width	280
map	USA Michigan#USA
map_caption	Location in Michigan
map_width	280
relief	1
location	Muskegon and Ottawa counties, Michigan, United States
nearest_city	Norton Shores, Michigan
coordinates
elevation	669 ft
area	1200 acre
designation	Michigan state park
established	1963
administrator	Michigan Department of Natural Resources
website
::

| name = P. J. Hoffmaster State Park | photo = Hoffmaster parabolic dune.jpg | photo_caption = Parabolic dune with damage to dune grass on unauthorized trail in center of photograph | photo_width = 280 | map = USA Michigan#USA | map_caption = Location in Michigan | map_width = 280 | relief = 1 | location = Muskegon and Ottawa counties, Michigan, United States | nearest_city = Norton Shores, Michigan | coordinates = | coords_ref = | elevation = 669 ft | area = 1200 acre | designation = Michigan state park | established = 1963 | visitation_num = | visitation_year = | administrator = Michigan Department of Natural Resources | website =

P. J. Hoffmaster State Park is a public recreation area on the shores of Lake Michigan located five miles north of Grand Haven at the southwest corner of Norton Shores, in Muskegon County, and the northwest corner of Spring Lake Township, in Ottawa County, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The state park's 1200 acre of land include 3 mi of sand beach on the lake. It is operated by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

History

Established in 1963, the park is named after Percy James Hoffmaster, sometimes considered the founder of the Michigan state parks system, who served as the Superintendent of State Parks and longest-acting Director of the Department of Conservation. The park's nature center is named for Emma Genevieve Gillette, who scouted locations for new state parks under Hoffmaster.

Activities and amenities

The Gillette Sand Dune Visitor Center features interactive exhibits related to the sand dune ecosystem within the park. The center also has live animals and an auditorium and offers many nature programs for the public. There are 10 mi of hiking trails, including the Dune Climb Stairway, the Walk-a-Mile, and Homestead trails. 3 mi of trail are groomed in the winter for cross-country skiing. There are two campgrounds and a beach. Bird watchers come to view migrating songbirds (wood thrushes and orioles plus warblers and sparrows of various species) and migrating raptors (sharp-shinned and broad-winged hawks and even the occasional eagle or falcon).

In the news

The park made international headlines on July 8, 2009, when a man fell asleep in his truck and backed over his family tent, injuring his wife and two young children.

References

References

1. "Hoffmaster State Park". Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
2. "Gillette Sand Dune Visitor Center". Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
3. "When were Michigan state parks and recreation areas established?". Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
4. "P.J. Hoffmaster State Park". Gillette Nature Association.
5. "Who was Genevieve Gillette?". Gillette Nature Association.
6. LeMieux, Dave. (July 8, 2009). "Kids injured when vehicle rolls over tent at P.J. Hoffmaster State Park". MLive.
7. "Wildlife Viewing at Hoffmaster State Park". Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::