Clare is a small town in the middle of the Lower Peninsula, and I’ve been coming here most of my life. We had property near Lake George growing up, and Clare was the town you drove into on weekends. Burgers at The White House, a swim at the Doherty Hotel pool, camping supplies from Jay’s Sporting Goods (when it was still downtown), random finds at the Clare Mill End Store. Our daughter’s name is Clare, partly for this town, partly a family name, and mostly it’s just a beautiful name. When we were passing through on our way up to the UP in August 2025, stopping here was easy to justify.
Clare sits right on US-10 and gets called the Gateway to the North for good reason. It’s roughly halfway between the Ohio border and the Mackinac Bridge, which makes it a natural stopping point if you’re heading up to the UP. So, we decided to try our luck at Petit Park and succeeded.
Pettit Park is a city-owned campground right on the Tobacco River, about a ten-minute walk from downtown Clare. It’s a first-come, first-served— self-pay envelope system, cash or check. There are 16 electric and water RV sites and four rustic sites. We paid $25 a night. Dumping is included with your stay; if you’re stopping just to dump without camping, it’s $5.
Site 15 at Pettit Park: What to Expect
Site 15 is one of the park’s longer sites. We pulled in with the R-Pod still hitched and had plenty of room (which was awesome, as we were only staying one night, so we didn’t bother unhooking). It’s a back-in with a wooded area behind it, a fire pit at the front, and a picnic table. There’s a large light post right next to the pad, which factored into our decision to choose it.
The electric and water hookups are shared with the adjacent site—one box with two 30-amp outlets plus a 110-volt outlet, and water access for both. Depending on which site you’re on, your hookups may be on the opposite side from where you’d want them. We backed into site 15 because the neighboring site was empty, which allowed us to use both water connections to fill our black tank before dumping.
Past the RV pads, there are a handful of rustic sites—smaller pads, no hookups—and a small parking area near the river where people were coming and going to fish all day. Water spigots are scattered throughout the park.
You register by pulling an envelope from the board at the entrance, writing your site number and dates on it, dropping in your payment, and depositing it in the fee slot. We got there on a Friday night around 7 p.m. and counted maybe four rigs in the whole park. It was quiet, and we slept well.
Amenities at Pettit Park
Every site has a fire pit and picnic table. Along the river, there are benches, a small playground with swings and climbing equipment, a shaded pavilion with picnic tables that you can rent out (there was a wedding there the day we visited) a lookout over the river, and a few more picnic tables with a grill. Horseshoe pits are near the pavilion area. There’s also an ADA-compliant fishing pier right on the Tobacco River.
Restrooms have coin-operated showers, and both the restrooms and showers are ADA-compliant. The dump station is on-site.
We saw geese, turtles, and a few other small animals along the river during our walk. People were fishing off the pier most of the day. We heard the fishing is pretty good, as the state stocks brown trout in the South Branch of the Tobacco River every spring.
What’s Walkable: Downtown Clare
The walk from the campground to downtown is about ten minutes. One of our first stops was Cops and Robbers Donuts, a staple in Clare. We got donuts to go, a strawberry bun, and a felony fritter.
Then we walked over to MI Rock Stop, a rock, gemstone, mineral, and fossil shop that opened in 2020 in a 4,600-square-foot space downtown. If that store had existed when my sister and I were kids, coming up here on weekends, we would have spent every dollar we had in there. Clare even got to meet the shop snake!
We also stopped into Four Leaf Brewing, a small three-barrel taproom that’s been operating since 2015 in the historic Davis Block building. They brew everything on-site—beer, wine, cider, mead—and serve food. The beer was tasty and I was grateful that they supplied crayons, coloring books, and board games as it kept our toddler very happy.
The White House looked the same as it always has and smelled the same, too. The cherry cheeseburger was still on the menu—I got that, hold the mayo. Chad got a burger, Clare got a grilled cheese, and we split the brown-gravy fries (The Whitehouse’s take on poutine). We ate outside since it was busy, and we had a toddler. It’s been a part of Clare for as long as I can remember. My sister and I used to come here late at night when we were kids—10 p.m., which felt very grown up at the time. We’d order late-night breakfast by ourselves like we were doing something cool.
The Doherty Hotel is still operating. We walked through to see the pool, and it was exactly the same. Same layout, same indoor atrium, hot tub off to the side, old motel rooms looking down from all four floors. It even smelled the same. I’ve been swimming in that pool since I was a kid, and walking in there I was instantly brought back.
The Doherty has some interesting history (Mob ties, etc.). And when I was in my teens, one of the owners shared some spooky stories about hauntings at the hotel (especially in the basement). If you visit, the staff can tell you some stories.
Also, walking around downtown with our daughter—a kid named Clare, in Clare —was one of those moments that didn’t need much explanation, especially in a town I cherished so dearly during my childhood.
Pettit Park — Quick Info
Address: 1525 N McEwan St, Clare, MI 48617
Hookups: Water and electric (30 amp); rustic sites also available
Cost: $25/night for RV & $20/night for rustic (August 2025); dump station included with overnight stay, $5 if not staying
Reservations: First-come, first-served — self-pay envelope system
Dogs Allowed: Yes
Notes: Cash or check; 16 RV sites, 4 rustic sites; pavilion available for rent
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