The Story of Henry's Landing

 In 1974, Jim Henry had a vision of creating a place where fishermen could come to experience the thrill of the great salmon fight. He purchased property on the Pere Marquette River and spent two years building it into a campground. He called it Henry's Landing. At first, Henry's Landing was meant only to serve the fishermen during the 6 week salmon run in late summer. Jim's wife, Freda ran their general store; checking in campers, selling tackle and writing fishing licenses, which back then was all done by hand. She was also an expert at tying spawn bags and making lead sinkers. Fishermen would line the riverbanks and the Scottville Bridge elbow to elbow waiting their turn to wrestle in one of these enormous fish.  At their fish cleaning station, Jim and his crew spent day and night cleaning thousands of King Salmon. Fishermen started coming to Henry's Landing from all over the country. Jim and Freda made many friends and built many memories together. Later, they decided to extend their camping season to include summer camping and added canoe, kayak and SUP board rentals. 

In 1982, Jim and Freda were blessed with their first grandchild, Josh. Josh spent all of his childhood summers at Henry's Landing following Grandpa around and learning all about engines, chopping wood, fishing and other "man stuff". He was Grandpa's best helper and grew up to be his right-hand man at Henry's Landing.

In the summer of 1999 at the age of 16, Josh was working at Grandpa's campground when he met Tess, while she was camping there with her family. They sparked an instant friendship that grew into a strong love over the next few years. They were married in 2004 and have two sons, Chase and Mack. Josh and Tess found that they loved the place where they first met and wanted to continue the family business. So in 2011, Tess also became involved with the daily operations of the campground. They now own and operate it and are continuing the tradition of building family memories along the river.

In the fall 2019, Josh and Tess decided to build a house and make Henry's Landing their year-round home. Raising Chase and Mack on the river and letting them be involved with the family business has been a wonderful experience. Teaching their sons the same lessons that Jim and Freda taught Josh has been a special gift. Learning strong work ethic and building relationships with strangers that turn into friends will be carried on into their adult lives. 

The most recent improvement that Josh and Tess have made at Henry's Landing is the rebuild of their camp store/ tackle shop. Much of the work was completed by this family of four with the help of some amazing friends. They look forward to expanding their selection of tackle to include trolling and bass fishing gear. The Henry Family looks forward to welcoming you to their home and hope that you find it as peaceful as they do.