Pere Cheney

Overview

A rail town that lost its people

Pere Cheney grew up in the 1870s around George M. Cheney's sawmill and a stop on the Michigan Central Railroad, in the pine country southeast of Grayling. Sources give its start as 1873 or 1874. The granite marker at the cemetery says that by 1877 it had a general store, a hotel, a doctor, a post office and two sawmills, and puts the population at about 1,500, a figure Wikipedia repeats without a source. When Crawford County was organized in 1879, Pere Cheney was briefly the county seat, until Grayling took it.

Diphtheria hit in 1893 and killed much of the town. Fires followed, probably from mill sparks, and the disease came back in 1897. By 1901 just 25 people lived there. The post office closed in 1912, and in 1917, with 18 residents left, the land was sold at public auction.

The cemetery holds about 90 people; the marker says 50 families are buried there. Vandals have destroyed most of the stones. The best-known story about the place is a legend: a woman banished to the woods as a witch is said to have cursed the town, bringing the disease and the fires. No record confirms her, her grave or any curse, so treat it as folklore.

Timeline

Pere Cheney, 1873 to 1917

1. 1873–74George M. Cheney's sawmill and a Michigan Central Railroad stop start the village. Wikipedia gives both 1873 and 1874; the cemetery's marker says Cheney got a railroad land grant in 1873.
2. 1877By the marker's account, the town has a general store, a wagon maker, two carpenters, a doctor, a hotel, a post office and two sawmills.
3. 1878The cemetery is laid out on five acres southeast of the town.
4. 1879Crawford County is organized. Pere Cheney is the temporary county seat, then loses it to Grayling.
5. 1893Diphtheria kills much of the population. Fires follow, likely from mill sparks.
6. 1897Diphtheria returns.
7. 1901The population is down to 25.
8. 1912The post office closes.
9. 1917With 18 people left, the land is sold at public auction and the town is abandoned.

Legend and record

The witch of Pere Cheney

Ask about Pere Cheney and you will hear about a witch. In the usual telling, the townspeople drove a woman into the woods, and she cursed them; diphtheria and fire followed. A red headstone was once said to mark her grave. Other tales add ghosts, children's laughter and handprints on parked cars.

None of it is documented. The record shows a lumber town that lost its forest, its people to two epidemics, and its land at auction. We keep the legend on the page because visitors will hear it, and we label it as legend.

The legend has done the cemetery harm. After a 2009 incident there, Wikipedia reports, the county sheriff said: "We have had a ton of complaints over the years."

What's left

What you'll see

The cemetery lies in a grassy clearing ringed by oaks and pines, a short way southeast of the townsite point, beside the old rail line. Photos from 2017 and 2018 show a township sign at the entrance, a granite marker that tells the town's history, and a few scattered headstones. A 1999 cemetery transcription already said vandals had destroyed all but a few monuments. Of the town itself, an undated listing names a schoolhouse foundation and depressions where buildings stood. The 1949 and 1951 USGS sheets below show Pere Cheney on the New York Central line, with Cheney Cemetery just to the southeast. On the 1983 sheet the line is the Detroit and Mackinac, the cemetery is no longer marked, and a four-lane highway, today's I-75, runs to the west.

• Pere Cheney Cemetery, established 1878
• A few headstones
• Granite history marker
• Schoolhouse foundation and building depressions

Historic maps

Pere Cheney on USGS maps, 1949–1983

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19491:62,50019511:24,00019831:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Grayling is the nearest town, about 20 minutes away. Both routes leave I-75 at exit 251 for West Four Mile Road, then take Beasley Avenue south and a forest track east to the townsite point. The cemetery is about a third of a mile southeast of that point. A 2026 travel article recommends a truck or high-clearance vehicle on the dirt tracks and warns that a southern approach crosses private, gated land; our routes come in from the north.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Pere Cheney in photos

A sandy path into the cemetery clearing, July 2017The township's sign at the cemetery, October 2018The marker and the path, October 2018Headstones and flags at the edge of the clearingThe Barber children's stoneThe granite marker's account of the townThe back of the marker: the names of the Pere Cheney families, October 2018Scattered headstones under the trees in the cemetery clearing, July 2017

Visitor reports

Been to Pere Cheney?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

Thanks. Your report reached us, and we'll read it before it goes on the page.

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Nearby

Other sites near Pere Cheney

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Michigan index.

• Deward20.4 mi NW · Crawford
• Damon21.3 mi E · Ogemaw
• Star City22.3 mi SW · Missaukee
• Cutcheon26.7 mi SW · Missaukee
• Wetzell31.1 mi NW · Antrim
• Podunk36.4 mi S · Gladwin
• Walton37.7 mi W · Grand Traverse
• Hard Luck41.3 mi SE · Gladwin

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "Pere Cheney, Michigan", retrieved October 2026: founding, railroad, county seat, diphtheria, population in 1901 and 1917, post office, 1917 auction, cemetery ownership and burials, the 2009 incident and the sheriff's comment, legends, coordinates and elevation.
2. Ken Haddad, "The story of Michigan's most infamous ghost town", ClickOnDetroit, October 17, 2023: Cheney and the railroad land grant, the fires and their likely cause in mill sparks, about 90 graves, the witch legend.
3. ghosttowns.com, "Pere Cheny": fact sheet fields (roads, climate, best time, remains).
4. Catherine Hollis, "This Remote Michigan Cemetery Is Tied to One of the State's Most Chilling Paranormal Legends", Unearth the Voyage, April 30, 2026: township daytime hours, trespass after dark, road advice, the private southern approach, no record of the witch.
5. Crawford County MIGenWeb, "Pere Cheney Cemetery", transcribed May 1999: vandals had destroyed all but a few monuments.
6. The cemetery's granite marker, read from rossograph's October 2018 photo: the 1873 land grant, the town in 1877, about 1,500 people, the cemetery founded in 1878 on five acres southeast of the town, 18 residents by 1917, 50 families buried.
7. Cemetery location: camera geotag of a July 2017 photo taken in the cemetery; the 1949 and 1951 USGS sheets mark it southeast of the town.
8. Coordinates: Wikipedia (from USGS GNIS). Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits

• A sandy path into the cemetery clearing, July 2017: SweetCanadianMullet, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The township's sign at the cemetery, October 2018: rossograph, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The marker and the path, October 2018: rossograph, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Headstones and flags at the edge of the clearing: SweetCanadianMullet, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The Barber children's stone: rossograph, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The granite marker's account of the town: rossograph, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The back of the marker: the names of the Pere Cheney families, October 2018: rossograph, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Scattered headstones under the trees in the cemetery clearing, July 2017: SweetCanadianMullet, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Topo map, area base map and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Grayling 1949, 1:62,500; Pere Cheney 1951, 1:24,000; Grayling 1983, 1:100,000.